In a rather bad science fiction movie, astronauts Susie (mass 50 kg) and Fred (m

Question

In a rather bad science fiction movie, astronauts Susie (mass 50 kg) and Fred (mass 84 kg) are investigating an alien probe. All of a sudden, the probe starts to produce a weird defensive force field. Their space ship's board computer scans the field and produces the above plot of the potential energy that Susie and Fred would have at different distances from the probe. The potential continues to be zero at larger distances than shown.

The computer locates Susie drifting toward the probe at a distance of 5.5 m with a total (mechanical) energy of 2 kJ, and Fred, also drifting toward the probe, at a distance of 14.5 m with a total (mechanical) energy of 9 kJ. One Kilojoule (kJ) is 103 Joules.

Can Susie escape from the force field?
Yes
No
Insufficient information

What will be Fred's maximum speed?

What will be Fred's final speed?

Explanation / Answer

a) the maximum speed occurs when the potential energy is at its minimum. The potential energy is at a minimum at x=5m.

EM= U+K

U=-8kJ and EM=9kJ

K = 17kJ=0.5mv^2

v = 20.12 m/s

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