Using the stress–strain diagram for steel in Figure 11.11, determine the minimum thickness a steel micrometeorite shield would have to be to protect the spacecraft from destruction (even though the shield itself might be dented, cracked, or even destroyed in the process).

Involve the situation depicted below. Consider a “micrometeorite” to be a piece of mineral that is approximately a sphere of diameter 1.0 × 10^-6 m and of density 2.0 × 10³ kg/m³. It travels through outer space at a speed of 5.0 × 10³ m/s relative to a spacecraft. Your job as an engineer is to provide a micrometeorite shield for the spacecraft. Assume that if the micrometeorite strikes the shield, it affects only a volume of the shield 1.0 × 10^-6 m in diameter and extending through the entire thickness of the shield.

Figure 11.11

Transcribed Image Text:

Shield Diameter = 1 micron Portion of shield affected by the micrometeorite is a cylinder with the same diameter as Micrometeorite the micrometeorite - Thickness, T