Lift Help – How do I start? Part 3

Next, I would suggest that you make a list of the quantities in the problem that you know, and those that you want to know.

In particular, you should look at what we call the boundary conditions. Answer the following questions:

• When the spuCraft goes through the light gate, what quantities doe you know?
• When the spuCraft latches onto the payload, what quantity/quantities do you know?
• When the spuCraft latches onto the payload, what quantity/quantities do you want to find?

What are the forces acting on the spuCraft between the light gate and the payload latch? Given this, how can you use Newton’s Second Law or the Work-Energy Principle to relate the boundary conditions. In particular, you need to relate the the things you want to know to the things you know.

Return to Lift Help.