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To reach the orbital altitude of Earth, a space shuttle must accelerate from zero to 8,000 meters per second (~18,000 miles per hour) in eight and a half minutes. What would the minimum average acceleration of the shuttle have to be in order to achieve this?
  • a)
    8 m/s2
  • b)
    15 m/s2
  • c)
    50 m/s2
  • d)
    30 m/s2
Correct answer is option 'B'. Can you explain this answer?
Verified Answer
To reach the orbital altitude of Earth, a space shuttle must accelerat...
We are given time, as well as initial and final velocity. We can therefore use the formula: v = v0 + at.
Convert minutes to seconds and plug in our values, we then get 8000 = 0 + 510 (a)
To do the math quickly without a calculator, remember that if a = 8 m/s2 then our t would have to equal 1,000 seconds to reach 8,000 m/s. Therefore if our time is roughly half 1,000 seconds, then our acceleration should be roughly double 8 m/s2 or 15 m/s2
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Most Upvoted Answer
To reach the orbital altitude of Earth, a space shuttle must accelerat...
Minimum Average Acceleration to Reach Orbital Altitude of Earth

To determine the minimum average acceleration required for a space shuttle to reach the orbital altitude of Earth, we need to use the given information of the shuttle's final velocity and the time it takes to reach that velocity.

Given:
Final velocity (v) = 8,000 m/s
Time (t) = 8.5 minutes = 8.5 * 60 seconds = 510 seconds

To find the minimum average acceleration, we can use the following equation of motion:

v = u + at

Where:
v = final velocity
u = initial velocity (which is 0 in this case)
a = acceleration
t = time

Step 1: Calculate the initial velocity (u)

Since the initial velocity (u) is given as 0, we can substitute this value into the equation:

v = u + at
8000 = 0 + a * 510

Step 2: Rearrange the equation and solve for acceleration (a)

8000 = a * 510
a = 8000 / 510
a ≈ 15.69 m/s^2

Since the question asks for the minimum average acceleration, we round the value to the nearest whole number, which is 16 m/s^2.

Answer: The minimum average acceleration required for the space shuttle to reach the orbital altitude of Earth is approximately 16 m/s^2. Therefore, the correct answer is option 'B' - 15 m/s^2.
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