contestada

In the early 1900s, Robert Goddard proposed sending a rocket to the moon. Critics took the position that in a vacuum such as exists between Earth and the moon, the gases emitted by the rocket would have nothing to push against to propel the rocket. To settle the debate, Goddard placed a gun in a vacuum and fired a blank cartridge from it. (A blank cartridge fires only the hot gases of the burning gunpowder.) What happened when the gun was fired

Respuesta :

The law of conservation of momentum allows to find the result for the movement of the system when the gun is fired is:

  • The gun acquires a velocity in the opposite direction to the bullet.
  • The speed of the gun is less than the speed of the bullet.

The conservation of momentum is one of the most important principles of physics, it establishes that in an isolating system the momentum is conserved.

Let's define the system to be formed by the gun and the bullet, this system is isolated, therefore the momentum is conserved, let's write the moment for two instants, see attached.  The mass of the gun is M and the mass of the bullet is m

Initial instant. Before the shot.

          p₀ = 0

Final moment. After the shot.

          [tex]p_f = (M-m) \ v_{gun} + m \ v_{bullet}[/tex]  

The momentum is preserved.

           p₀ = [tex]p_f[/tex]

          [tex]0 = (M-m) \ v_{gun} + m \ v_{bullet}[/tex]  

        [tex]v_{gun} = - \frac{m}{M-m} \ v_{bullet}[/tex]  

Consequently we can see that the gun goes back, its velocity is negative with respect to the bullets and the velocity of the gun is much lower than the velocity of the bullet, to increase this velocity we can:

  • Increase the speed of the bullets.
  • Increase the mass of the ejected bullet, for the mass of the pistol to be smaller.

In conclusion, using the law of conservation of momentum we can find the result for the movement of the system when the gun is fired is:

  • The gun acquires a velocity in the opposite direction to the bullet.
  • The speed of the gun is less than the speed of the bullet.

Learn more about conservation of the momentum here:  brainly.com/question/2141713

Ver imagen moya1316

Otras preguntas