It is a beautiful day on your space ship. You have been sent out on your first mission as a space ship captain (and only crew member) and feel eager and ready to have tho Al determine the mass of Planet X43-11 in a solar system far far away. You sit fastened tightly and barely manage to touch the bullseye with your fingertips while you marvel the beauty of geometry when-for a brief moment - window and planet match perfectly in size. The moment gets violently Interrupted when the Al suddenly begins to blare Distance to target 7400 miles. speed 1200 miles per minute, to be or not to be, what is the purpose of life, I think hence I am forgetful, time for breakfast, WARNING, WARNING.... Something went horribly wrong, you realize upon awakening on a soft pile of long and thin cables which clearly have been part of a your - now defunct board computer. You look around:rich vegetation, plenty of seemingly edible fruit, an obviously breathable atmosphere. Non-threatening life forms with lots of pink fur and worryingly defensive looking tusks look at you with four eyes each while they graze in the big pile of rubbish which once was your space ship. Well, it could be worse. You hope it won't be. Suddenly you hear atmospheric noise, maybe your radio? You climb on the landing arm, a clever construction made from a big circular, nearly elephant-sized dish supported by a solid steel rod and cushioned by a number of now disassembled springs which have been formerly neatly arranged in a regular square grid. You have fond memories of this landing arm, in particular the soft squeaking noise when it gave in a millimeter the moment you stepped on it. You even went through the trouble of having terrestrial ground personal confirm that indeed it was a millimeter. No more no less. Oh, the miracles of precision engineering! You wish you had recorded the squeaking. Respectfully avoiding to step on any of the remaining springs you enter into the remains of your space ship through the bulls eye window - almost getting pierced by the two meter antenna rod which somehow managed to displace itself from the top of the ship into the cabin Without showing a scratch or bend, Weird.. you think, while you hear a voice on radio. "Howdy... we had to reset your Al it developed a bad case of self awareness. You know how it goes. How was the landing? Bit rough..."you mumble. "Well. Glad to hear it all went well "Did it? "You talk?" Right After a moment of awkward silence the other side outs to the point, "Well... we could get you out tomorrow with our hyperdrive emergency wormhole ship. Awesomel "Yes. The Al got the mass of X43-112 "Maybe. But it never bothered to mention." "Uhm... well. You know the thing about wormhole drives is, they are a tiny bitsy sensitive to gravitational disturbances at the end of the wormhole... which is why we sent you on that boring...sony... Important mission... uhm... guess you have to wait for the standard emergency shuttle then. How's the planet? Plenty of fruits I've heard? Hope it won't get boring 15 month of fruit diet... Can't say I envy you. Ah, and a word of advice, watch out for Zargs... know how to build a tree house I know my weight perfectly and will sue space force for every gram I lost on this... ROUTINE mission..."you reply as calmly as you can, while your increasingly panicked mind makes an Inventory of all the things you have available for your significantly extended stay at X43-11. Your eyes scan the chaos near the radio. As if to underline your situation "McWileys completest table of all the known masseth and radil of planets in the universe but not Earth with a compendium of the most important natural constants', the very same you intended to update with this mission, decides to give in to gravity and drop from an overhead shelf onto the top of your head with a soft plonk. After a brief moment of irritating pain it hits you, this time more figuratively: "Sooo for the mass... order of magnitude is ok, or do you need it really really precise?" "Well... if you have the leading digit right, arrival might be a bit bumpy but should be reasonably safe... Why you ask?" "Cause I know how to get that mass and out of herel Thanks to PHYS 151 after only two weeks!" You hear a sympathetic giggle from the other side. "Before I send the rescue... would you mind explaining your idea?" With a proud smile you ... ...continue the story in a way that ensures the rescue ship can be sent. That means: How would you determine the mass of X43-11 so you can leave as fast as possible? Make sure to give a reasonable answer as the guy in the control center will ask for my approval before launching the rescue vessel. Signed, Dr K Assistant Space Fleet Admiral Summer Fleet 151 PS: Feel free to write your answer in whatever style suits you but make sure that you outline a physics and equation based strategy that could work. You might have to find out some quantities in the process of solving this problem. These can be chosen rather freely as far as numbers are concerned. Nevertheless you should explain how you could obtain these numbers with what you have available on the planet. There might be different ways to solve the problem In the end, I don't expect you to provide a specific mass for the planet but a strategy how to obtain this number based on what the problem offers and what you've learned in class. I am aware of possible loopholes, but since I am the main narrator I can assure you that no help will come if you whistle the Star Wars theme or wave a towel as secret signal for your buddy the space pirate to pick you up. This is first of all a physics midterm. PPS. I wouldn't mind space pirates landing and explaining the physics to you though. Be as creative as you wish. It is a beautiful day on your space ship. You have been sent out on your first mission as a space ship captain (and only crew member) and feel eager and ready to have tho Al determine the mass of Planet X43-11 in a solar system far far away. You sit fastened tightly and barely manage to touch the bullseye with your fingertips while you marvel the beauty of geometry when-for a brief moment - window and planet match perfectly in size. The moment gets violently Interrupted when the Al suddenly begins to blare Distance to target 7400 miles. speed 1200 miles per minute, to be or not to be, what is the purpose of life, I think hence I am forgetful, time for breakfast, WARNING, WARNING.... Something went horribly wrong, you realize upon awakening on a soft pile of long and thin cables which clearly have been part of a your - now defunct board computer. You look around:rich vegetation, plenty of seemingly edible fruit, an obviously breathable atmosphere. Non-threatening life forms with lots of pink fur and worryingly defensive looking tusks look at you with four eyes each while they graze in the big pile of rubbish which once was your space ship. Well, it could be worse. You hope it won't be. Suddenly you hear atmospheric noise, maybe your radio? You climb on the landing arm, a clever construction made from a big circular, nearly elephant-sized dish supported by a solid steel rod and cushioned by a number of now disassembled springs which have been formerly neatly arranged in a regular square grid. You have fond memories of this landing arm, in particular the soft squeaking noise when it gave in a millimeter the moment you stepped on it. You even went through the trouble of having terrestrial ground personal confirm that indeed it was a millimeter. No more no less. Oh, the miracles of precision engineering! You wish you had recorded the squeaking. Respectfully avoiding to step on any of the remaining springs you enter into the remains of your space ship through the bulls eye window - almost getting pierced by the two meter antenna rod which somehow managed to displace itself from the top of the ship into the cabin Without showing a scratch or bend, Weird.. you think, while you hear a voice on radio. "Howdy... we had to reset your Al it developed a bad case of self awareness. You know how it goes. How was the landing? Bit rough..."you mumble. "Well. Glad to hear it all went well "Did it? "You talk?" Right After a moment of awkward silence the other side outs to the point, "Well... we could get you out tomorrow with our hyperdrive emergency wormhole ship. Awesomel "Yes. The Al got the mass of X43-112 "Maybe. But it never bothered to mention." "Uhm... well. You know the thing about wormhole drives is, they are a tiny bitsy sensitive to gravitational disturbances at the end of the wormhole... which is why we sent you on that boring...sony... Important mission... uhm... guess you have to wait for the standard emergency shuttle then. How's the planet? Plenty of fruits I've heard? Hope it won't get boring 15 month of fruit diet... Can't say I envy you. Ah, and a word of advice, watch out for Zargs... know how to build a tree house I know my weight perfectly and will sue space force for every gram I lost on this... ROUTINE mission..."you reply as calmly as you can, while your increasingly panicked mind makes an Inventory of all the things you have available for your significantly extended stay at X43-11. Your eyes scan the chaos near the radio. As if to underline your situation "McWileys completest table of all the known masseth and radil of planets in the universe but not Earth with a compendium of the most important natural constants', the very same you intended to update with this mission, decides to give in to gravity and drop from an overhead shelf onto the top of your head with a soft plonk. After a brief moment of irritating pain it hits you, this time more figuratively: "Sooo for the mass... order of magnitude is ok, or do you need it really really precise?" "Well... if you have the leading digit right, arrival might be a bit bumpy but should be reasonably safe... Why you ask?" "Cause I know how to get that mass and out of herel Thanks to PHYS 151 after only two weeks!" You hear a sympathetic giggle from the other side. "Before I send the rescue... would you mind explaining your idea?" With a proud smile you ... ...continue the story in a way that ensures the rescue ship can be sent. That means: How would you determine the mass of X43-11 so you can leave as fast as possible? Make sure to give a reasonable answer as the guy in the control center will ask for my approval before launching the rescue vessel. Signed, Dr K Assistant Space Fleet Admiral Summer Fleet 151 PS: Feel free to write your answer in whatever style suits you but make sure that you outline a physics and equation based strategy that could work. You might have to find out some quantities in the process of solving this problem. These can be chosen rather freely as far as numbers are concerned. Nevertheless you should explain how you could obtain these numbers with what you have available on the planet. There might be different ways to solve the problem In the end, I don't expect you to provide a specific mass for the planet but a strategy how to obtain this number based on what the problem offers and what you've learned in class. I am aware of possible loopholes, but since I am the main narrator I can assure you that no help will come if you whistle the Star Wars theme or wave a towel as secret signal for your buddy the space pirate to pick you up. This is first of all a physics midterm. PPS. I wouldn't mind space pirates landing and explaining the physics to you though. Be as creative as you wish