Vertically launched rocket problem with integration

Lawrencel2
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Homework Statement


Find the Rockets height as a function of time
It is in a constant field g. u refers to the exhaust speed and M is the initial mass.
Starts from rest. and is single stage.

Homework Equations


1) m * dv/dt= -dm/dt * u-mg

2)Show that height as t is: y(t)= u*t- 1/2*g*t^2- u*t*ln(M/m)

The Attempt at a Solution


Ok, i arrived at a function very similar to the the height but, i cannot seem to get the u*t term in the function. i get y(t)= - 1/2*g*t^2- u*t*ln(M/m)
where do i get the u*t term from? i feel like i am so close to the answer but so far away..
I integrated 1) and arrived at V(t)= u*ln(M/m)-g*t
 
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no help?
 
Hi, I did look at this earlier but got stuck with your first integration. It is likely there is a constant of integration you are missing so if you are still stuck and want to, please can you show me your steps to integrate 1) and then I will see if I can help?

Cheers
 
I'm pretty sure you're forgetting that mass is a function of time, so your integration of u*ln(M/m(t))*dt isn't as simple as you had hoped...

Edit:
Hint: Do the integration w.r.t. mass, and not time. The key here is that (I'm assuming) the fuel burn rate is constant, so dm/dt = -c, where c is some constant. Use that to replace dt with -dm/c. Also, don't forget to solve for the constant of integration using the initial condition m(0) = M.
 
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To solve this, I first used the units to work out that a= m* a/m, i.e. t=z/λ. This would allow you to determine the time duration within an interval section by section and then add this to the previous ones to obtain the age of the respective layer. However, this would require a constant thickness per year for each interval. However, since this is most likely not the case, my next consideration was that the age must be the integral of a 1/λ(z) function, which I cannot model.
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