PHYS-1500 PHYSICAL MODELING
FALL 2006
Putting a Rocket into Orbit
Below is a copy of the program for moving a rocket from the surface of Earth to a circular orbit.
This program will take a rocket from rest on the surface to a circular orbit, but it ignores air
resistance. Below the pictures of the spreadsheet are the contents of the cells. For the cells above
the actual program, i.e. rows 1 through 11, only the contents of the cells containing formulae
have been given. For rows 12 and 13, the contents of all cells have been given. When row 13 is
complete, the entire row (except cell K13) should be copied to rows 14 through 513. Then, use
the program to answer the questions on the assignment sheet. Many of the cells contain the same
formulae as the previous spreadsheet for moving a rocket from one orbit to another. Those that
are different have been marked with a “pound” sign (#). One new cell has been added at G4, and
three new columns at U, V, and W. Those cells are also marked with a #.
D6: =J7*SQRT(1/(1+B5/B6))
D7: =MIN(O12:O513)
A12: 0
A13: =A12+Q12
G5: = 0
G6: =B5*G5
G7: =G5^2/2-B3*B4/B5
G8: =-B3*B4/(2*B6)
B12: =B5
B13: =B12+E12*Q12
J3: =MAX(B12:B513)
J4: =MIN(B12:B513)
J5: =MAX(T12:T513
J6: =SQRT(B3*B4/B5)
J7: =SQRT(2)*J6
J8: =SQRT(B3*B4/B6)
J9: =MAX(R12:R513)
C12: 0
C13: =E12
#D12: =-$B$3*$B$4/B12^2+M12^2/B12^3+P12*COS(U12)/O12
#D13: =-$B$3*$B$4/B13^2+M13^2/B13^3+P13*COS(U13)/O13
E12: =C12+D12*Q12
E13: =C13+D13*Q13
F12: =IF(E12<0,-1,1)
F13: =IF(E13<0,-1,1)
I12: =B12*COS(G12)
I13: =B13*COS(G13)
J12: =B12*SIN(G12)
J13: =B13*SIN(G13)
#L5: =J5/60
G12: 0
G13: =G12+(H13)*Q12
H12: =M12/B12^2
H13: =M13/B13^2
K12: =AVERAGE(J3:J4)
K13: =-K12
L12: =$G$7
#L13: =IF(P12=0,L12,-$B$3*$B$4/B13+(C13^2+(M13/B13)^2)/2)
#M12: =G6
#M13: =M12+P12*SIN(U12)*B12*Q12/O12
N12: 0
N13: =1/($B$3*$B$4/M13^2-SQRT(($B$3*$B$4/M13^2)^2+2*L13/M13^2))
O12: =$B$7
#O13: =IF(P12=0,O12,O12-W13*Q12)
#P12: =IF(OR(N12<$B$6,AND(B12<B11,L12<$G$8)),W12*$B$9,0)
#P13: =IF(OR(N13<$B$6,AND(B13<B12,L13<$G$8)),W13*$B$9,0)
#Q12: =IF(P12>0,$G$3*(O12/$B$7)^2,$G$3)
#Q13: =IF(P13>0,$G$3*(O13/$B$7)^2,$G$3)
S12: =SQRT(C12^2+(B12*H12)^2)
S13: =SQRT(C13^2+(B13*H13)^2)
#U12: =IF(B12<$B$6*0.98,$G$4*PI()/180,PI()/2)
#U13: =IF(B13<$B$6*0.98,$G$4*PI()/180,PI()/2)
#W12: =B8
#W13: =IF(R12>100,W12/2,W12)
R12: =P12/O12
R13: =P13/O13
T12: =IF(P12<P11,A12)
T13: =IF(P13<P12,A13)
#V12: =B12-$B$5
#V13: =B13-$B$5