Why does a rocket keep accelerating?
As the rocket velocity increases, it encounters air resistance, or aerodynamic drag, which opposes the motion. Drag increases as the square of the velocity. The thrust of the rocket must be greater than the weight plus the drag for the rocket to continue accelerating.
Do Newton’s laws apply in space?
Newton’s Second Law states that force is needed to accelerate or decelerate a body. In practice this means astronauts must learn how to push themselves carefully through their spacecraft, or else they will simply float around helplessly. It’s not that the laws of motion are any different on Earth than in space.
How does NASA use rockets today?
NASA uses rockets to launch satellites and to send probes to other worlds. These rockets include the Atlas V, the Delta II, the Pegasus and Taurus. NASA also uses smaller “sounding rockets” for scientific research. These rockets go up and come back down, instead of flying into orbit.
Why is Newton’s second law important in launching your rocket?
That is why a rocket starts off moving slowly and goes faster and faster as it climbs into space. Newton’s second law of motion can be restated in the following way: the greater the mass of rocket fuel burned, and the faster the gas produced can escape the engine, the greater the thrust of the rocket.
Where should the center of pressure be located in a rocket?
The conditions for a stable rocket are that the center of pressure must be located below the center of gravity.
Where is the center of pressure?
The center of pressure is the point where the total sum of a pressure field acts on a body, causing a force to act through that point. The total force vector acting at the center of pressure is the value of the integrated vectorial pressure field.
How does the design of a rocket affect its flight?
shaped rockets create less drag and therefore fly faster and higher. Symmetrical fins on the bottom of the rocket act as stabilizers to keep it flying straight. stabilizers to keep the rocket flying straight.
What is the best body shape for a rocket?
At supersonic speeds (faster than the speed of sound), the best shape is a narrower and sharper point. Rockets with a larger diameter have more drag because there is more air being pushed out of the way. Drag depends on the cross-sectional area of the object pushing through the air.
What is the best fin shape for a rocket?
elliptical fin shape
Is it better to have a heavier or lighter rocket?
The weight of a rocket is the force that opposes motion and thrust. A heavier rocket requires more thrust to reach space, which ultimately increases the overall cost of the rocket. Engineers try to find ways to reduce the weight of a rocket by using lightweight materials. However, lighter is not always better.
Does size affect speed in space?
A rocket with more mass will speed up more slowly, just as in the horizontal example, but there is another effect. The force of gravity is now acting in the opposite direction to the thrust, so the resultant force pushing the rocket upwards is also less.
How do rockets produce thrust?
Thrust is generated by the propulsion system of the rocket through the application of Newton’s third law of motion; For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action. The re-action to the acceleration of the working fluid produces the thrust force on the engine.