Why Do Falling Spacecrafts Experience Weightlessness?

  • Thread starter Thread starter alexparker
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Falling Space
AI Thread Summary
Falling spacecrafts experience weightlessness due to the condition of free fall, where both the spacecraft and the astronaut inside are accelerating towards Earth at the same rate. The gravitational force acting on each spacecraft can be calculated using the equations F=GMm/r^2 and F=mg, which reveal that the weight ratios and accelerations depend on their distances from Earth. For spacecraft Y at 5r and X at 2r, the gravitational forces and accelerations will differ based on their respective distances, but both experience the same acceleration due to gravity in free fall. This results in astronauts feeling weightless, as there is no normal force acting on them. Understanding these principles clarifies why astronauts in falling spacecraft do not feel their weight.
alexparker
Messages
18
Reaction score
0
Two Space crafts, X and Y, of equal masses, are falling towards the earth.
A) What are the values of the following ratios
i Wx/Wy
ii acceleration of X/acceleration of Y

B) Why would the astronaut in either spacecraft be considered to be 'Weightless'

PLEASE NOTE: There is a diagram that show Y is 5r (away from earth) and X is 2r (away from earth).

The radius of Earth is 6.4x10^6 m

Any help would be very much liked.
Thankyou in advance
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Have you ever seen the equations F=GMm/r^2 and F=mg? Those are all you need to solve part a.
 
I multiplied the values first without the error limit. Got 19.38. rounded it off to 2 significant figures since the given data has 2 significant figures. So = 19. For error I used the above formula. It comes out about 1.48. Now my question is. Should I write the answer as 19±1.5 (rounding 1.48 to 2 significant figures) OR should I write it as 19±1. So in short, should the error have same number of significant figures as the mean value or should it have the same number of decimal places as...
Thread 'A cylinder connected to a hanging mass'
Let's declare that for the cylinder, mass = M = 10 kg Radius = R = 4 m For the wall and the floor, Friction coeff = ##\mu## = 0.5 For the hanging mass, mass = m = 11 kg First, we divide the force according to their respective plane (x and y thing, correct me if I'm wrong) and according to which, cylinder or the hanging mass, they're working on. Force on the hanging mass $$mg - T = ma$$ Force(Cylinder) on y $$N_f + f_w - Mg = 0$$ Force(Cylinder) on x $$T + f_f - N_w = Ma$$ There's also...
Back
Top