A possible means of space flight is to place a perfectly reflecting aluminized sheet into orbit around the Earth and then use the light from the Sun to push this "solar sail." Suppose a sail of area A = 5.20 x 105 m² and mass m = 6,200 kg is placed in orbit fac Ignore all gravitational effects and assume a solar intensity of 1,370 W/m². (a) What force (in N) is exerted on the sail? (Enter the magnitude.) N (b) What is the sail's acceleration? (Enter the magnitude in µm/s².) μm/s2 (c) Assuming the acceleration calculated in part (b) remains constant, find the time interval (in days) required for the sail to reach the Moon, 3.84 x 108 m away, starting from rest at the Earth. days (d) What If? If the solar sail were initially in Earth orbit at an altitude of 340 km, show that a sail of this mass density could not escape Earth's gravitational pull regardless of size. (Calculate the magnitude of the gravitational field in m/s².) m/s² (e) What would the mass density (in kg/m²) of the solar sail have to be for the solar sail to attain the same initial acceleration as that in part (b)?

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A possible means of space flight is to place a perfectly reflecting aluminized sheet into orbit around the Earth and then use the light from the Sun to push this "solar sail." Suppose a sail of area A = 5.20 x 105 m² and mass m = 6,200 kg is placed in orbit facing the Sun.
Ignore all gravitational effects and assume a solar intensity of 1,370 W/m².
(a) What force (in N) is exerted on the sail? (Enter the magnitude.)
N
(b) What is the sail's acceleration? (Enter the magnitude in µm/s².)
μm/s²
(c) Assuming the acceleration calculated in part (b) remains constant, find the time interval (in days) required for the sail to reach the Moon, 3.84 x 108 m away, starting from rest at the Earth.
days
(d) What If? If the solar sail were initially in Earth orbit at an altitude of 340 km, show that a sail of this mass density could not escape Earth's gravitational pull regardless of size. (Calculate the magnitude of the gravitational field in m/s².)
m/s²
(e) What would the mass density (in kg/m²) of the solar sail have to be for the solar sail to attain the same initial acceleration as that in part (b)?
kg/m²
Transcribed Image Text:A possible means of space flight is to place a perfectly reflecting aluminized sheet into orbit around the Earth and then use the light from the Sun to push this "solar sail." Suppose a sail of area A = 5.20 x 105 m² and mass m = 6,200 kg is placed in orbit facing the Sun. Ignore all gravitational effects and assume a solar intensity of 1,370 W/m². (a) What force (in N) is exerted on the sail? (Enter the magnitude.) N (b) What is the sail's acceleration? (Enter the magnitude in µm/s².) μm/s² (c) Assuming the acceleration calculated in part (b) remains constant, find the time interval (in days) required for the sail to reach the Moon, 3.84 x 108 m away, starting from rest at the Earth. days (d) What If? If the solar sail were initially in Earth orbit at an altitude of 340 km, show that a sail of this mass density could not escape Earth's gravitational pull regardless of size. (Calculate the magnitude of the gravitational field in m/s².) m/s² (e) What would the mass density (in kg/m²) of the solar sail have to be for the solar sail to attain the same initial acceleration as that in part (b)? kg/m²
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