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hgducharme
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Homework Statement
Jules Verne [/B]In his novel From the Earth to the Moon (1866), Jules Verne describes a spaceship that is blasted out of a cannon, called the Columbiad, with a speed of 12,000 yards/s. The Columbiad is 900 ft long, but part of it is packed with powder, so the spaceship accelerates over a distance of only 700 ft. Estimate the acceleration experienced by the occupants of the spaceship during launch.
v0 = 10,975.60976 m/s
a = ?
d = 213.4146341 m
Homework Equations
[/B]
1) [itex]x= x_0+v_0t+\frac{1}{2}at^2[/itex]
2) [itex]v^2 = v_o^2 + 2a\Delta x[/itex]
The Attempt at a Solution
I tried solving the second equation, but I got an insane number that isn't plausible. My main problem is what should I consider V0, is it 0 or is it the 10,975 m/s? If I set it to 0, then I'm only calculating the acceleration from at rest to as soon as it leaves the cannon's barrel. Otherwise, if I set it to the 10,975 m/s, then I don't know the final velocity after accelerating for 213.4 m. Also, would the acceleration be considered as [itex]-9.8\frac{m}{s^2}[/itex]?
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