Answer to Question #68876 in Mechanics | Relativity for Becca

Question

Our Addition Problem this week will deal with an asteroid the "size of Texas" heading our way. Our asteroid is heading toward earth at 22,000 mph with a mass of 6.2 x 1021 kg. Instead of a misfit crew of oil drillers we send a small intrepid spacecraft to nudge it off course. After setting down on the asteroid it will give a constant force of 5.0 N. We only need to change the velocity of the asteroid by 0.30 cm/s to have it miss the Earth. How long must the force act on the asteroid to avert disaster?

Answer 1

Constant force affects constant acceleration, which changes the velocity according to:
v=v_0+at
Following the starting equation we can find the time required for the changing of the velocity:
t=(v-v_0)/a=(m(v-v_0))/F=(m∙∆v)/F
Thus, the time is calculated to be:
t=(3×〖10〗^(-3) m/s)/(5.0 N)∙6.2×〖10〗^21