Engineering >> Other

Deriving Terminal Velocity from Newton's Laws

by Andre Cozier

 

Submitted : Fall 2018


The study of rockets is not limited to the Space Race era during the Cold War where two colossal Super Powers (the United States of America and the Soviet Union) competed to reach dominion over space flight capabilities. Rather, rocket science is studied in full effect today as entrepreneurs, large companies, and federal programs such as Elon Musk, Google, and NASA are competing to further understand the solar system and galaxy to which human beings have been intrigued by for millennia. Arguably, the most difficult and disastrous phase in launching rockets is while the rocket is in the Earth’s atmosphere, specifically, when the rocket is lifting off. Then there is also the retrieving of the object as it hurls back into Earth’s atmosphere. This project will be a beginner’s guide for understanding the science behind drag forces as an object launches or free falls through Earth’s atmosphere. This will be executed through applied calculus and physics. 


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Advisors :
Arcadii Grinshpan, Mathematics and Statistics
Zhimin Shi, Physics
Suggested By :
Zhimin Shi