A spaceship ferrying workers to moon-base I takes a straight-line path from the earth to the moon, a distance of 384,000 km. Suppose the spaceship starts from rest and
accelerates at 20 m/s2
, for the first 15 min of the trip, and then travels at constant velocity
until the last 15 min when it slows down at a rate of 20 m/s2
, just coming to rest as it
reaches the moon.
a) What is the maximum velocity attained? (Ans: 1.8 x 104
m/s)
b) What fraction of the total distance is traveled at constant speed? ( Ans: 95.78 % )
c) What total time is required for the whole trip?