A new space tourism company, ‘Orbital Escapes,’ plans to offer short suborbital flights. Their spacecraft, ‘Stargazer,’ will follow a parabolic trajectory, reaching a maximum altitude of 100 km above Earth’s surface before returning to the launch site. During the flight, passengers will experience a period of apparent weightlessness.
a. Explain why passengers in ‘Stargazer’ experience apparent weightlessness during the suborbital flight, even though the gravitational force of the Earth is still acting upon them.
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Create Free Account Log inThis is a free VCE Units 3 & 4 Physics practice question worth 3 marks, testing your understanding of Forces on satellites. It falls under How do things move without contact? in Unit 3: How do fields explain motion and electricity?. Submit your answer above to receive instant AI-powered marking and personalised feedback.
In this unit students use Newton’s laws to investigate motion in one and two dimensions. They explore the concept of the field as a model used by physicists to explain observations of motion of objects not in apparent contact. Students compare and contrast three fundamental fields – gravitational, magnetic and electric – and how they relate to one another. They consider the importance of the field to the motion of particles within the field. Students examine the production of electricity and its delivery to homes. They explore fields in relation to the transmission of electricity over large distances and in the design and operation of particle accelerators. A student-designed practical investigation involving the generation of primary data and including one continuous, independent variable related to fields, motion or light is undertaken either in Unit 3 or Unit 4, or across both Units 3 and 4, and is assessed in Unit 4, Outcome 2. The design, analysis and findings of the investigation are presented in a scientific poster format.
In this area of study, students examine the similarities and differences between three fields: gravitational, electric and magnetic. Students explore how positions in fields determine the potential energy of, and the force on, an object. They investigate how concepts related to field models can be applied to construct motors, maintain satellite orbits and to accelerate particles including in a synchrotron.
Apply the concepts of force due to gravity and normal force including in relation to satellites in orbit where the orbits are assumed to be uniform and circular.
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