Question: a rocket is attached to the rim of a 1mdiameter...
Question details
A rocket is attached to the rim of a 1-m-diameter wheel that can pivot freely around its axel. The wheel weighs 98N, and the rocket weighs half that. When the rocket fires with a constant thrust, it is noticed it takes 5 seconds for the wheel to rotate 6 times.
a) If almost all the mass of the wheel is at the rim, why can the moment of inertia for the wheel be approximated with the function mr^2
b) What is the thrust from the rocket?
I have some answers written down for both, but I am unsure if they are correct:
a) More mass distributed away from the axel point would contribute to larger inertia, therefore mr^2
b) I got the force of thrust equal to 15.08 N (It sounds wrong)
Solution by an expert tutor
