Question

4. Because parents are concerned that children are learning "wrong" science from TV you have been asked to be a technical advisor for a new science fiction show. The show takes place on a space station at rest in deep space far away from any stars. In the plot, a vicious criminal (Alicia Badax) escapes from the space station prison. Alicia steals a small space ship and blasts off to meet her partners somewhere in deep space. If she is to just barely escape, how long do her partners have to transport her off her ship before she is destroyed by a photon torpedo from the space station? In the story, the stolen ship accelerates in a straight line at its maximum possible acceleration of 30 m/sec2. After 10 minutes (600 seconds) all of the fuel is burned and the ship coasts at a constant velocity Meanwhile, the hero of this episode (Major Starr) learns of the escape while dining with the station's commander. Of course she immediately rushes off to fire photon torpedoes at Alicia. Once fired, a photon torpedo travels at a constant velocity of 20,000 m/s. By that time Alicia has a 30 minute (1800 seconds) head start on the photon torpedo. 20