PH 211: Space Station

Living in space is potentially pretty cool but life would be a bit different in ways both subtle and not so subtle. Here is your challenge in case of the space station you have designed.

1) Imagine you are standing still (relative to your space station) holding a tennis ball or a rock 1 m above the "ground". At some time of your choosing you release the rock without applying any force to it which is what you do on earth when you drop a ball.

2) Describe clearly and completely (but without worrying about the math yet) the behavior of the ball from both your perspective and the perspective of someone floating in space outside your spacestation.

3) Calculate the amount of time that your ball/rock in the space station will take to "reach the ground" and compare it to the drop time from the same height for a rock here on earth.

 

 

Physics Lab Skill Validation