Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (49513)	5/1/2009 7:40:41 PM
From: benwood	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218631

That's fairly accurate. <g> The weight in Mexico city is probably going to be higher than at Cape Canaveral. This is because it is not sitting 2 miles above Cape Canaveral, but instead, it's sitting at ground level but where there's a stronger gravitational attraction (the earth is bulging there, and nearness of extra mass likely adds more weight than the greater distance from the center -- it's a complex integration as I recall). But if the earth were perfectly spherical and one had a lift-off station 2 miles above the surface, gravitational attraction would 0.01% less as you said, assuming I computed that correctly too. The fuel required to accelerate the ship (and fuel as it burns) to an orbital speed of about 3500 miles per hour dwarfs the energy to push through the air. Drag is a minor factor compared to the overall mass, even at sea level. The Space Shuttle throttles back it's thrust a few seconds into launch and holds back until about 50 seconds into launch in order to minimize "Max Q" or maximum pressure, but this is to make it easier for the tiles to make it into space. They usually announce "max Q" at ground control during a launch. btw, 747s regularly fly at 10km altitude (roughly 33000 feet). The limiting factor is wing lift -- higher up, the jet encounters less resistance, and consequently less lift. The speed of sound also decreases with altitude, so unless the jet is going to go supersonic, there's a sweet spot of velocity versus lift.