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    Acceleration at Liftoff

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    Hyan Gontijo
    The document discusses the acceleration of a model rocket at liftoff. It explains that the only forces acting on the rocket during vertical launch are thrust (T) and weight (W), with thrust opposing weight. The vertical acceleration of the rocket can be calculated as the thrust minus weight, divided by the rocket's mass. For a model rocket, the weight remains nearly constant during flight since propellant mass is small compared to the total vehicle mass.

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    Acceleration at Liftoff

    Uploaded by

    Hyan Gontijo
    72 views2 pages
    The document discusses the acceleration of a model rocket at liftoff. It explains that the only forces acting on the rocket during vertical launch are thrust (T) and weight (W), with thrust opposing weight. The vertical acceleration of the rocket can be calculated as the thrust minus weight, divided by the rocket's mass. For a model rocket, the weight remains nearly constant during flight since propellant mass is small compared to the total vehicle mass.

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    The document discusses the acceleration of a model rocket at liftoff. It explains that the only forces acting on the rocket during vertical launch are thrust (T) and weight (W), with thrust opposing weight. The vertical acceleration of the rocket can be calculated as the thrust minus weight, divided by the rocket's mass. For a model rocket, the weight remains nearly constant during flight since propellant mass is small compared to the total vehicle mass.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    72 views2 pages

    Acceleration at Liftoff

    Uploaded by

    Hyan Gontijo
    The document discusses the acceleration of a model rocket at liftoff. It explains that the only forces acting on the rocket during vertical launch are thrust (T) and weight (W), with thrust opposing weight. The vertical acceleration of the rocket can be calculated as the thrust minus weight, divided by the rocket's mass. For a model rocket, the weight remains nearly constant during flight since propellant mass is small compared to the total vehicle mass.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    30/03/2017 AccelerationatLiftoff

    Theforcesonamodelrocketchangedramaticallyinbothmagnitudeanddirectionthroughoutatypical
    flight.Thisfigureshowstheaccelerationonarocketjustfollowingliftoff.Theaccelerationisproducedin
    responsetoNewton'sfirstlawofmotion.Anetexternalforceisbeingappliedtotherocket.Theonlyforces
    presentarethethrust(T)andtheweight(W).Theweightisalwaysdirectedtowardthecenteroftheearth
    thedirectionofthethrustisalongtherocketaxis.Foraverticallaunch,thethrustisdirectlyoppositethe
    weightandthenetverticalforce(Fv)isthethrustminustheweight(Fv=TW).Thereisnohorizontal
    forcepresentforaverticallaunch.TheaccelerationoftherocketcanbedeterminedbyNewton'sSecond
    LawofMotion.Foraconstantmass,thislawcanbewrittenasforce(F)equalsmass(m)timesacceleration
    (a)(F=m*a).Wecansolvefortheaccelerationusingalgebra(a=F/m).Thentheverticalacceleration
    (av)oftherocketisgivenbytheequation(av=[TW]/m).

    Sincetheaerodynamicforcesdependonthesquareofthevelocity,andthevelocityislowduringliftoff,the
    magnitudeoftheaerodynamicforcesisverysmall.Thatiswhythereisnohorizontalcomponentofthe
    accelerationforthisverticallaunchconfiguration.

    Foramodelrocket,theweightofthepropellantissmallrelativetotheweightoftheentirevehicle.So,in
    determiningtheaccelerationwecanassumethattheweightremainsnearlyconstant.Thisisdifferentfroma
    fullscalerocketinwhichthepropellantsrepresentalargeportionoftheweightofthevehicle.Changesin
    theweight(mass)ofthepropellantmustthenbeincludedinanydeterminationofvelocityoracceleration
    duringtheflight.Theequationsshownonthisslidewouldnotbevalidforafullscalerocketbecauseofthe
    changeinmass.Foramodelrocket,thethrustchangesgreatlywithtimeduetothedesignofthesolidrocket
    engine.Wecanusetheequationsonthisslidetodeterminehowtheaccelerationchangeswithtimefora
    modelrocket.

    https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/airplane/rktalo.html 1/2
    30/03/2017 AccelerationatLiftoff

    Backtotop

    Goto...

    Beginner'sGuideHomePage

    byTomBenson
    Pleasesendsuggestions/correctionsto:[email protected]

    https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/airplane/rktalo.html 2/2

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