Question 19 - Apollo 13/Newton in the Driver's Seat (2 Viewers)

[Xenocide]

ok, it doesn't matter too much to me this point but just one last point for clarification.

After the burn was completed (read: the slingshot maneuvre was over) Jim Lovell said "We just put Isaac Newton is in the drivers seat" (or "Now Isaac Newton's in the drivers' seat"). So Isaac Newton sat down, after the slingshot maneuvre

 

[Abtari]

newton in drivers seat because he went in a straight line from earth to moon, i.e. first law.

No friction and weak gravity, therefore travels in straight line and it reached earth so you know that the law was obeyed

you dont need escape velocity etc

i agree with the fact that this q has nothing to do with escape velocity..

but with newton's first law, how the hell does the rocket go in a straight line?

 

[tabularasa]

does it really matter that we put escape velocity if its wrong surely well i know i did did about other stuff as welll. ANd if u were supposed to put escape velocity in there than we get it. I don;t think that tey'll say OMG they put escape velocity in therefore a 0.

 

[shortie_89]

i said that the slingshot effect behaves a perfectly ellastic contact-free collision, obeying th newtons law thingo... lol you know, equal and opposite reactions blah blah..... i thought it was a ridiculous question and the whole paper was very englishy and just shit in general.

 

[steamroller60]

i just said that newton was in the drivers seat cos he thought up escape velocity and the slingshot effect.

 

[powerhouse]

I wrote about Newton's idea about projectile motion and orbiting bodies (because the question said the craft was in a lunar orbit) and that any extra thrust would propel the craft out of the orbit similar to escape velocity.

 

[Captain Karl]

I took it to mean after the slingshot effect, so mainly based my answer on the laws of gravity. Thinking about it now to get full marks (wasnt it worth 3 or 4?) they probably expect something on escape velocity/slingshot effect. I'm agreeing with Xenocide and Abtari on this one but

 

[Oso]

I don't remember exactly what I wrote, but I said at the end that it wasn't justified 'cause Newton wasn't the only scientist to contribute to the space travel

 

[Husayn]

Ofcourse it was justifed...

Orbital/Escape velocity = Newton

Newtons 1st/3rd Law = Newton

And that's practically all that was used (without counting re-entry). But I don't think there is a "law" for re-entry attributed to anyone, or atleast I've never heard of it.

 

[Abtari]

I don't remember exactly what I wrote, but I said at the end that it wasn't justified 'cause Newton wasn't the only scientist to contribute to the space travel

the question wasn't about some general 'space travel' scenario. The description of the scenario at the start of the question specifically narrowed it down to something applicable to just Newton. It is justified, in that sense - my opinion.

and no, re-entry has nothing to do with newton, per se. if you look at the syllabus, the space module, focus idea 3, you will notice that the slingshot effect has been included with newton's law of gravitation and everything to do with gravitation...this also hints to the answer being something along those lines i think

 

[peabeau]

yeah question was shithouse. i tried to attack it mathematically relating newtons law of gravity to keplers law of periods or some shit. Preety sure i stuffed it though

 

[shobadaynature]

I took it to mean after the slingshot effect, so mainly based my answer on the laws of gravity. Thinking about it now to get full marks (wasnt it worth 3 or 4?) they probably expect something on escape velocity/slingshot effect. I'm agreeing with Xenocide and Abtari on this one but

yup me too, I got it by the slingshot effect, the chucked in the law of universal gravitation. I wasn't clear on escape velocity, but sorta tried to link it back to the scenario. ok i guess.