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CAF123
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Homework Statement
A balloon of mass M contains a bag of sand of initial mass ##m_o##. The balloon experiences a constant upthrust and is initially at rest and in equilibrium: the upthrust compensates exactly for the gravitational force. At time t=0, the sand is released at a constant rate. It is fully disposed of in time ##t_o##. Determine the velocity ##v(t)## at any time between t=0 and ##t=t_o##. Express the result in terms of $$k = \frac{m_o}{M+m_o} \frac{1}{t_o}$$
The Attempt at a Solution
At t=0, sand released at constant rate, ##\alpha## say. So, ##\frac{dm}{dt} = -\alpha, ##m the mass of the sand bag. Solve the above to give ##m_s(t) = m_o - \alpha t##
The mass of the whole system (balloon + sand bag), ##M(t) = M + m_o -\alpha t##
By NII, $$P(t+\Delta t) - P(t) = F_{ext} \Delta t \Rightarrow M(t + \Delta t)v(t + \Delta t) - M(t)v(t) = F_{ext}\Delta t$$
Taylor expand the first two terms to give $$(M(t) + \Delta t \dot{M})(v(t) + \Delta t \dot{v}) - M(t)v(t) = [(M + m_o)g - M(t)g]\Delta t,\,\,F_{ext} = (M + m_o)g - M(t)g$$
Collect terms ignore the (very small) ##\Delta t^2## term to get $$\dot{v} - \frac{\alpha}{M + m_o - \alpha t}v = \frac{(M+m_o)g - M(t)g}{M + m_o - \alpha t},$$ which can be solved by integrating factor.
Does it look good so far? When I look at the solution, they end up doing just an ordinary integration.
Many thanks.
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