184_projects:go_launch_24 [Projects & Practices in Physics]

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===== Project: Go for Launch =====

==== Kick Off Questions ====
  - What are the different types of energy you have worked with previously, and how are they quantified (e.g. equations)?
  - Is energy a vector or scalar quantity?
  - If you have two positive charges, what is the sign of electric potential energy? What if you have two negative charges? What if you have one positive and one negative?
  - What does the sign of electric potential energy tell you about?


==== Main Problem ====
After your team gave such accurate advice regarding the safety of the monitoring equipment on top of FTOE, the local S.P.A.R.T.A.N. station chief has asked you to assist with one of the top secret projects underway at the lab.  This time, in an effort to prevent future storms, you are tasked with overseeing the design and launch of an experimental government device know as a T.N.D. (Thundercloud Neutralizing Drone).  She says she can't tell you why the drone was developed or how it works, but it needs to remain stationary in the center of a storm cloud, where it can be remotely triggered to neutralize the charges in the cloud and stop the storm.  The T.N.D. is spherical with a radius of $R_{TND} = 2$ m, and has a mass of $m_{TND} = 500$ kg. It has a small propulsion system that can be turned on remotely to allow it to maintain its altitude, but the propulsion system isn't powerful enough to launch the drone.  

In order to deploy the T.N.D., it must be driven by truck to the storm and launched upward via a massive spring to the proper height in the atmosphere.  Once at thundercloud height, its propulsion system will hold it in place while it neutralizes the cloud.  You are tasked with carrying out the crucial step BEFORE the launch can happen: compressing the **locking** truck-mounted spring that will be used in the launch. The mechanism for how the spring is compressed is depicted in the output below:

{{184_notes:springenergyinitialdiagram.png}}

The right (blue) sphere represents the positively charged T.N.D., which is placed on a frictionless track. The left (red) sphere represents a negatively charged L.P.D. (Launch Preparation Device), which has the same mass and radius as the T.N.D., and has a net charge of $Q_{LPD} = -0.025$ C. It is held in a fixed position; its sole purpose is to attract the T.N.D. along the track towards the spring. The T.N.D. is initially held in place by the green wall, which is removable. The distance between the two gray walls is $d = 85$ m. The massive spring has a spring constant of $k_s = 4.6 \times 10^4$ N/m, and a rest length of $L_0 = 13$ m.

To complicate things, the scientists inform you of two restrictions to the safety and capabilities of the mechanism:

1. The track is not built to contain the T.N.D. at very high speeds; the maximum speed it should reach before hitting the spring is $v_{max} = 50$ m/s.

2. The spring is very large. In order for the compressed spring-T.N.D. system to fit on a transport truck, the spring must be compressed at least $\Delta x_{min} = 6$ m in length.

You must determine a range of charge that would be acceptable to place on the T.N.D., such that the compression process is both safe AND effective. Once compressed, the spring-T.N.D. system can be driven to any desired launch location, where the T.N.D. can be remotely launched by the spring into the atmosphere to hopefully mitigate some of the destructive weather in Lakeview.
<WRAP INFO>

===Learning Goals:===
  * Review approach to energy problems - choosing an appropriate system, and mapping energy interactions with a system and its surroundings.
  * Review previous energy types, such as translational kinetic energy, local gravitational potential energy, spring potential energy, and rotational kinetic energy.
  * Incorporate electric energy as a new form of energy.
  * Distinguish between electric energy, potential, field, and force
</WRAP> 

==== Wrap Up Questions ====
  - Qualitatively, how does the energy change in this system? What types of energy do you have? Are they increasing or decreasing? Is energy conserved? (It may be helpful to draw energy bar charts here.)
  - When the spring is fully compressed, what is the electric force on the positive charge? What is the spring force on the positive charge? What is the net force on the positive charge?
  - What is the general approach to solving a physics problem using energy? (What steps did you follow in this problem?)
  - If a third positive charge was added to the right of the T.N.D., how would this impact your solution? What would you change? How would you calculate the new quantities?
  - What assumptions did you need to make to simplify this problem?
  - Is this problem realistic? Why or why not?