The following questions are from chapter 14 of Understanding Space

• From Section 14.1 - Questions 3, 4, 6*, 9*, 10
• From Section 14.2 - Questions 45, 46, 58
• From Section 14.3 - Questions 63, 64, 65, 66*, 70*

1. Define rocket thrust

and explain where it comes from in terms of Newton's Third Law of Motion.

2. Describe the relationship between rocket thrust, propellant mass flow rate, and exhaust velocity?

3. A major league baseball batter can swing his bat with a force of 900 N. If the bat is in contact with a ball for 0.11 s, what is the change in momentum of the ball (expressed in Newton Seconds) ?

4. What is the total impulse imparted (in Newton Seconds) by the same major league baseball batter ?

5. Imagine a 125-kg astronaut (including the space suit) is stranded in space with only a large bag (50 kg) of asteroid rocks (0.25 kg each). To get back to the exploration vehicle, she'll have to throw the rocks in one direction to move in the other. If she can throw 1 rock per second at a velocity of 30 m/s, what is the specific impulse (in sec) of her makeshift rocket?

6. What is her thrust (in Newtons)?

7. What total V (in m/sec) can she generate?

8. What is the ideal rocket equation? [ireq]

9. Define each term in the ideal rocket equation.

10. Describe the main difference between bipropellant and monopropellant liquid-chemical rockets.

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