Question

The shuttle Atlantis is taking off for another mission to the ISS. It has a mass of 1.20x105 Kg. If the shuttles upwards acceleration is 5.0 x 101 m/s2, calculate the lifting force of the shuttle.

Answer 1

Given data:

* The mass of the shuttle is,

$m=1.2\times10^5\text{ kg}$

* The acceleration of the shuttle is,

$\begin{gathered} a=5\times10^1ms^{-2} \\ a=50ms^{-2} \end{gathered}$

Solution:

According to newton's second law, the lifting force of the shuttle is,

$\begin{gathered} F=ma \\ F=1.2\times10^5\times50 \\ F=60\times10^5\text{ N} \\ F=6000\times10^3\text{ N} \\ F=6000\text{ kN} \end{gathered}$

Hence, the lifting force of the shuttle is 6000 kN.