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Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: NJ
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl View Post
You guys are helping me with the intuition.

Here's where my hangup has been. Suppose I have a spaceship of mass M with a rocket drive that produces a constant force F. It is far from any planet or sun, so there is no friction opposing its movement. Force F accelerates the spaceship to velocity V at time T1, then a while later it has accelerated to velocity 10*V at time T2. At time T1 the power of the drive is F x V. At time T2 the power is F*10*V. I was/am having trouble understanding intuitively why the constant force is producing more and more power.
Are you taking into account the decrease in fuel mass that must be moved as you burn fuel?
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Old 02-17-2016, 07:37 AM
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