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Acceleration at Liftoff

The document discusses the acceleration of a model rocket at liftoff. It explains that the only forces acting on the rocket during vertical launch are thrust (T) and weight (W), with thrust opposing weight. The vertical acceleration of the rocket can be calculated as the thrust minus weight, divided by the rocket's mass. For a model rocket, the weight remains nearly constant during flight since propellant mass is small compared to the total vehicle mass.

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Hyan Gontijo
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121 views2 pages

Acceleration at Liftoff

The document discusses the acceleration of a model rocket at liftoff. It explains that the only forces acting on the rocket during vertical launch are thrust (T) and weight (W), with thrust opposing weight. The vertical acceleration of the rocket can be calculated as the thrust minus weight, divided by the rocket's mass. For a model rocket, the weight remains nearly constant during flight since propellant mass is small compared to the total vehicle mass.

Uploaded by

Hyan Gontijo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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30/03/2017 AccelerationatLiftoff

Theforcesonamodelrocketchangedramaticallyinbothmagnitudeanddirectionthroughoutatypical
flight.Thisfigureshowstheaccelerationonarocketjustfollowingliftoff.Theaccelerationisproducedin
responsetoNewton'sfirstlawofmotion.Anetexternalforceisbeingappliedtotherocket.Theonlyforces
presentarethethrust(T)andtheweight(W).Theweightisalwaysdirectedtowardthecenteroftheearth
thedirectionofthethrustisalongtherocketaxis.Foraverticallaunch,thethrustisdirectlyoppositethe
weightandthenetverticalforce(Fv)isthethrustminustheweight(Fv=TW).Thereisnohorizontal
forcepresentforaverticallaunch.TheaccelerationoftherocketcanbedeterminedbyNewton'sSecond
LawofMotion.Foraconstantmass,thislawcanbewrittenasforce(F)equalsmass(m)timesacceleration
(a)(F=m*a).Wecansolvefortheaccelerationusingalgebra(a=F/m).Thentheverticalacceleration
(av)oftherocketisgivenbytheequation(av=[TW]/m).

Sincetheaerodynamicforcesdependonthesquareofthevelocity,andthevelocityislowduringliftoff,the
magnitudeoftheaerodynamicforcesisverysmall.Thatiswhythereisnohorizontalcomponentofthe
accelerationforthisverticallaunchconfiguration.

Foramodelrocket,theweightofthepropellantissmallrelativetotheweightoftheentirevehicle.So,in
determiningtheaccelerationwecanassumethattheweightremainsnearlyconstant.Thisisdifferentfroma
fullscalerocketinwhichthepropellantsrepresentalargeportionoftheweightofthevehicle.Changesin
theweight(mass)ofthepropellantmustthenbeincludedinanydeterminationofvelocityoracceleration
duringtheflight.Theequationsshownonthisslidewouldnotbevalidforafullscalerocketbecauseofthe
changeinmass.Foramodelrocket,thethrustchangesgreatlywithtimeduetothedesignofthesolidrocket
engine.Wecanusetheequationsonthisslidetodeterminehowtheaccelerationchangeswithtimefora
modelrocket.

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/airplane/rktalo.html 1/2
30/03/2017 AccelerationatLiftoff

Backtotop

Goto...

Beginner'sGuideHomePage

byTomBenson
Pleasesendsuggestions/correctionsto:[email protected]

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k12/VirtualAero/BottleRocket/airplane/rktalo.html 2/2

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