Equation of a conic section:
Ellipse equation:
relating energy to geometry
Velocity can be found knowing Energy and position: from (1b) we solve for
conic | eccentricity | Energy E | |
circle | |
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|
ellipse | | | |
parabola | | | |
hyperbola | |
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|
effective
i.e. effective
in units:
To convert it to
In units then
The above is the average specific impulse.
To find the instantaneous specific impulse
From the net
Specific impulse is defined as the number of seconds for which a pound of propellant will produce a pound of thrust
from the net
Outside of the United States specific impulse is in metres per second, and is identical to the effective velocity of the exhaust gas from the rocket.
from net
Specific Impulse is a measure of the Thrust produced by an engine per the mass flowrate of propellant and thus the correct SI unit is Ns/kg or when the Newton is expanded and the units are cancelled down, m/s.
from net
The unit of seconds comes from some very silly cancelling when using old units. If you measure thrust in lbf and you measure flowrate in lb/sec then you get lbf.s/lb. Then if you cancel the two lb parts.... you get left with seconds. This means that to make any use of the value it has to be multiplied by g to put it into sensible units (s.m/s\symbol{94}2 = m/s again).
impulse = change in momentum
Specific impulse is defined as
One definition I saw of specific impulse is
how long you can thrust at a given force with a pound of fuel.
from net
specific impulse is a measure of how long a given amount of fuel can provide a thrust equal to its own weight.
Hence, assume we consume
Final velocity =
Where
payload ratio (Prussing def)
structural ratio
payload ratio (Wisel def)
Notice that
Methods: Given masses, if asked to find
For space shuttle,
Impulse = thrust * time thrust applied.
i.e. total impulse
So, Thrust
In other words, time it takes to burnout
Specific Impulse (ISP), or how much thrust you get from each pound of fuel is very important.
Generally, DELTA V = LN(MASS RATIO)* ISP*G That means that the Specific Impulse (ISP), or how much thrust you get from each pound of fuel is very important, and the Mass Ratio, or what percentage of your vehicle is propellant is less important. For each stage you can set an ISP to determine how much propellant you will use for the thrust you need. Then set a mass ratio to determine how much metal you wish to wrap around the propellant. The rule of Thumb is that higher stages get the better ISPs and Mass Ratios because they are smaller and they include the cost of the boosters. Boosters are the work horses, low ISP because of atmospheric back pressure, and heavy, but you can buy them by the pound cheap. Also, the ISP is set mostly by the propellant choice, the Mass Ratio on the other hand is determined by how much money you wish to spend on light weight materials. The lightest know material for construction is Unobtainium.
Solve for
Next find