You are working for a rocket-launching company that is preparing to launch human

Question

You are working for a rocket-launching company that is preparing to launch human space travelers into low-Earth orbit. In test flights, the company is having difficulty with a particular piece of electronic equipment, which is repeatedly damaged by the vibrations of the spacecraft as it launches. In previous launches, the equipment has been kept in a storage locker on the spacecraft, and apparently the vibrations from the walls of the locker have damaged the equipment. Your director has an idea for which he would like you to submit a design. He wants to hang the equipment on a single wire from the forward bulkhead of the spacecraft, surrounded by soft foam. When the spacecraft sits on the launcher nose-up, the equipment will hang downward from its attachment point and maintain this orientation as the spacecraft accelerates straight upward. The equipment and wrapping material have a mass of 19.0 kg. Beginning from rest, the rocket will reach a height of 55.0 km from the surface of the Earth in a time interval of 29.0 s. You need to determine the tension that the wire must be able to withstand in order that it not break during launch. (Give the tension in N.)

Explanation / Answer

Acceleration of the spacecraft can be found using:

S = ut + (1/2)at2

55000 = 0 + (1/2)a(29)2

=> a = 130.796 m/s2

for the equipment:

T - mg = ma

T = m(g+a) = 19(9.8 + 130.796) = 2671.34 N.

this is the tension which the wire must withstand.

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