II: MOTION in ONE SPACE DIMENSION - Pt IIb

1st year CLASSICAL MECHANICS MT06 PLR from RCED

Topics covered: motion with variable mass – rain drops, the rocket.

1 Variable mass problems

In this section the mass will not be constant, so remember that NII relates the rate of
change of momentum to force.

1.1 Rain drop

Suppose a rain drop accretes mass proportional to its mass and distance travelled through
dm
a cloud, i.e. = am where a is a constant. Take x to be the vertical coordinate measured
dx
downwards from the drop’s initial position at rest at a height h above the ground. The
dx
downward velocity is v = , and multiplying the mass accretion equation by v gives
dt
dm dm dx
= = amv
dt dx dt
Using this gives the equation of motion
d dv
(mv) = mg, or amv 2 + m = mg
dt dt
Cancelling the common m gives

dv 1 − e−2gt/v0 g
+ av 2 = g with solution v(t) = v0 , v02 = .
dt 1+e −2gt/v0 a
dv dv
Or the equation of motion may be rewritten as a function of distance using =v
dt dx
dv  
v + av 2 = g with solution v 2 = v02 1 − e−2ax .
dx
Note that the mass increases exponentially, m(x) = m0 eax , which must break down at
some point – e.g. when the drop is too large for surface tension to hold it together.
Assuming that this happens for x >> 1/a, then the velocity approaches a limiting value
of v0 . Why is this – no resistance to motion has been included. Indeed what difference
would the addition of a resistance term of the form R(v) = cmv 2 (c constant) to the
equation of motion make?

1.2 The Rocket

Rather than working directly with NII, the conservation of momentum will be used as
the starting point. Consider the situation shown in Fig. 1. At instant t the rocket with
total mass M has velocity v (+ve towards the right) relative to some inertial frame of
reference, at t + ∆t the rocket has ejected mass ∆m with a constant velocity −u relative

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Figure 1: Momentum conservation for a rocket ejecting mass at constant velocity −u
relative to its frame.

to its frame and now has total mass M − ∆m and velocity v + ∆v. The change in total
momentum, ∆P , is given by

∆P ≡ P (t + ∆t) − P (t) = (M − ∆m)(v + ∆v) + ∆m(v − u) − Mv

≈ M∆v − u∆m (to 1st order small).

Divide by ∆t and take the limit ∆t → 0. At the same time use the relation that dm/dt
is the rate of increase of the ejected mass and by conservation of mass must be equal to
the rate of decrease of the rocket’s mass, so dm/dt = −dM/dt. Together this gives

dP dv dM
=M +u . (1)
dt dt dt
Consider now two cases:
dv u dM
• No external forces. dP/dt = 0 and the equation becomes =− which
dt M dt
may be integrated to give
vf − vi = u ln(Mi /Mf )
for the increase in velocity corresponding to an ejection of mass from Mi to Mf .
Note that the explicit time dependence of mass change is not needed, only the initial
and final masses.

• Vertical rocket, constant g. dP/dt = −Mg (+ve upwards) and Eq. 1 gives
dv u dM
=− − g. Integrating over the time interval tB (the burn time) gives
dt M dt
vf − vi = u ln(Mi /Mf ) − gtB where v(0) = vi , v(tB ) = vf .

For the most efficient rocket leaving the Earth’s surface, one wants u as large as possible
and tB as small as possible. To assess the relative importance of the terms one needs the
model for M(t) or equivalent data. A linear decrease gives Mf = Mi − λtB where λ is a
constant.

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Some numbers from the Saturn V rocket used by NASA for the Moon landings, the
exhaust speed u = 2.91 kms−1 and the stage 1 burn time is 120 s.
mass [105 kg]
Payload 0.54
Stage 3 1.14
Stage 2 5.00
Stage 1 21.32
Total mass Mi 28.00
Stage 1 propellant Mp 20.00
speed [kms−1 ]
∆v (thrust) u ln[Mi /(Mi − Mp )] 3.65
Gravitational drag gtB 1.18
Stage 1 velocity √ 2.47
Earth escape speed 2gRE 11.2

With u ∼ 3 kms−1 as the maximum that can be reached with conventional chemical
combustion, it is clear why a multistage rocket is necessary to achieve Earth escape.
These figures should give you some useful information for planning a mission to Mars –
and back. Apart from the much longer distance, why is it going to be more tricky than
the lunar landing missions?
The radii of the Earth, Mars and Moon are 6378, 3397, 1738 km respectively and assume
that all have a uniform density approximately that of the Earth.