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Solved:Trip to the moon
You plan to take a trip to the moon. Since you do not have a traditional spaceship with rockets, you will need to leave the Earth with enough speed to make it to the moon. Some information that will help during this problem:
mearth = 5.9742 x 10^24 kg
rearth = 6.3781 x 10^6 m
mmoon = 7.36 x 10^22 kg
rmoon = 1.7374 x 10^6 m
dearth to moon = 3.844 x 10^8 m (center to center)
G = 6.67428 x 10^-11 N-m2/kg2
The minimum speed needed to reach the moon is vmin = 11068 m/s. If you leave the surface of the Earth at this speed, how fast will you be moving at the surface of the moon?
Fgrav=G*m1*m2/r^2
PE earth=PE moon + KE moon ??
PE total = -GMe*m/ D-Re - GMm*m/D-Rm where D is the distance between centers of Earth and moon, m is the mass of the person, Mm is the mass of the moon, and Me is the mass of the earth
The velocity cannot be zero at the surface of the moon. Although there is a point along the way that your speed approaches zero, as the spaceship falls to the moon it speeds up.
Homework Statement
You plan to take a trip to the moon. Since you do not have a traditional spaceship with rockets, you will need to leave the Earth with enough speed to make it to the moon. Some information that will help during this problem:
mearth = 5.9742 x 10^24 kg
rearth = 6.3781 x 10^6 m
mmoon = 7.36 x 10^22 kg
rmoon = 1.7374 x 10^6 m
dearth to moon = 3.844 x 10^8 m (center to center)
G = 6.67428 x 10^-11 N-m2/kg2
The minimum speed needed to reach the moon is vmin = 11068 m/s. If you leave the surface of the Earth at this speed, how fast will you be moving at the surface of the moon?
Homework Equations
Fgrav=G*m1*m2/r^2
PE earth=PE moon + KE moon ??
PE total = -GMe*m/ D-Re - GMm*m/D-Rm where D is the distance between centers of Earth and moon, m is the mass of the person, Mm is the mass of the moon, and Me is the mass of the earth
The Attempt at a Solution
The velocity cannot be zero at the surface of the moon. Although there is a point along the way that your speed approaches zero, as the spaceship falls to the moon it speeds up.
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