Question

A true story: A fungus projects its spores in such a way that during the launch the spore has the largest acceleration ever recorded in nature. In the process of launching, the spore reaches a speed of 25.0 m/s (around 56 mph) in just 14.0 millionths of a second (that is, 14.0×10^-6 sec).

a) Assuming the spore experiences constant acceleration during its launch, what is the magnitude of the acceleration? (You can ignore the spore’s weight in this part)

For the real spore, air resistance is a huge effect, so the spore doesn’t go all that far.

b) Just for the sake of comparison, how far would the spore go if it were launched in an airless

environment (still on Earth) at an angle of 50.0º above level ground?

Answer 1

a) The acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity per unit time. The expression for the acceleration is as follows Δι, At Calculate the acceleration using the above equation as follows: 25 m/s -6 14 x10 S -1.78x106 m/s2 b) Calculate the range as follows: (25 m/s) sin 2(50°) 9.8 m/s2 (625 m'/s')sin 100 9.8 m/s2 -63.77 m(0.984) 63 m