# 8.7 Introduction to rocket propulsion  (Page 3/4)

 Page 3 / 4
$\frac{{m}_{0}}{{m}_{\text{r}}}={e}^{4\text{.}\text{48}}=\text{88}\text{.}$

Thus, the mass of the rocket is

${m}_{\text{r}}=\frac{{m}_{0}}{\text{88}}\text{.}$

This result means that only $1/\text{88}$ of the mass is left when the fuel is burnt, and $\text{87}/\text{88}$ of the initial mass was fuel. Expressed as percentages, 98.9% of the rocket is fuel, while payload, engines, fuel tanks, and other components make up only 1.10%. Taking air resistance and gravitational force into account, the mass ${m}_{\text{r}}$ remaining can only be about ${m}_{0}/\text{180}$ . It is difficult to build a rocket in which the fuel has a mass 180 times everything else. The solution is multistage rockets. Each stage only needs to achieve part of the final velocity and is discarded after it burns its fuel. The result is that each successive stage can have smaller engines and more payload relative to its fuel. Once out of the atmosphere, the ratio of payload to fuel becomes more favorable, too.

The space shuttle was an attempt at an economical vehicle with some reusable parts, such as the solid fuel boosters and the craft itself. (See [link] ) The shuttle’s need to be operated by humans, however, made it at least as costly for launching satellites as expendable, unmanned rockets. Ideally, the shuttle would only have been used when human activities were required for the success of a mission, such as the repair of the Hubble space telescope. Rockets with satellites can also be launched from airplanes. Using airplanes has the double advantage that the initial velocity is significantly above zero and a rocket can avoid most of the atmosphere’s resistance.

## Phet explorations: lunar lander

Can you avoid the boulder field and land safely, just before your fuel runs out, as Neil Armstrong did in 1969? Our version of this classic video game accurately simulates the real motion of the lunar lander with the correct mass, thrust, fuel consumption rate, and lunar gravity. The real lunar lander is very hard to control.

## Section summary

• Newton’s third law of motion states that to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
• Acceleration of a rocket is $a=\frac{{v}_{\text{e}}}{m}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\frac{\text{Δ}m}{\text{Δ}t}-g$ .
• A rocket’s acceleration depends on three main factors. They are
1. The greater the exhaust velocity of the gases, the greater the acceleration.
2. The faster the rocket burns its fuel, the greater its acceleration.
3. The smaller the rocket's mass, the greater the acceleration.

## Conceptual questions

Professional Application

Suppose a fireworks shell explodes, breaking into three large pieces for which air resistance is negligible. How is the motion of the center of mass affected by the explosion? How would it be affected if the pieces experienced significantly more air resistance than the intact shell?

what is torque
The turning effect of force is called torque.
Uzair
what there factors affect the surface tension of a liquid
formula for impedance
ehat is central forces
what is distance?
What does mean ohms law imply
ohms law state that the electricity passing through a metallic conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference across its end
muyiwa
what is matter
Anything that occupies space
Kevin
Any thing that has weight and occupies space
Victoria
Anything which we can feel by any of our 5 sense organs
Suraj
Right
Roben
thanks
Suraj
what is a sulphate
Alo
Alo
the time rate of increase in velocity is called
acceleration
Emma
What is uniform velocity
Victoria
Greetings,users of that wonderful app.
how to solve pressure?
how do we calculate weight and eara eg an elefant that weight 2000kg has four fits or legs search of surface eara is 0.1m2(1metre square) incontact with the ground=10m2(g =10m2)
Cruz
P=F/A
Mira
can someone derive the formula a little bit deeper?
Bern
what is coplanar force?
forces acting and lying on d same plane
Promise
what is accuracy and precision
How does a current follow?
follow?
akif
which one dc or ac current.
akif
how does a current following?
Vineeta
?
akif
AC current
Vineeta
AC current follows due to changing electric field and magnetic field.
akif
Abubakar
ok bro thanks
akif
flows
Abubakar
but i wanted to understand him/her in his own language
akif
but I think the statement is written in English not any other language
Abubakar
my mean that in which form he/she written this,will understand better in this form, i write.
akif
ok
Abubakar
ok thanks bro. my mistake
Vineeta
u are welcome
Abubakar
what is a semiconductor
substances having lower forbidden gap between valence band and conduction band
akif
what is a conductor?
Vineeta
replace lower by higher only
akif
convert 56°c to kelvin
Abubakar
How does a current follow?
Vineeta
A semiconductor is any material whose conduction lies between that of a conductor and an insulator.
AKOWUAH
what is Atom? what is molecules? what is ions?
atoms are the smallest unit of an element which is capable of behaving as a single unit
Promise
a molecule is d smallest unit of a substances capable of independent existence and can also retain the chemical proper ties of that substance
Promise
an ion is referred to as freely moving charged particles
Promise