point of order also: we asked why they even had handguns for the trip. what on earth would you need to shoot at on the moon? they obviously don't bring handguns as propulsion devices, since there are other ways to get that effect. But in this case, the equipment that is supposed to be used for an emergency, less than ideal landing on the moon, has been destroyed in a rough landing.
Thus, the test was how creative you were with what you had left and then how good you were at prioritizing in the event you couldn't carry everything. (Anyone who works in the tech industry under tight deadlines, understaffed, with less than ideal equipment/tools can relate. :)
note: I would be nearly dead had I not had a team with members who knew more about the moon's atmosphere than I remembered from high school. :) i'm such a tool.
Anyway, the minor point was that, while a handgun might be less than ideal, it was on the ship in the event that the emergency landing was on earth. if you landed in the jungle or in enemy territory or in the Andes, a handgun might be a good thing to have to 1. fend off predators. 2. hunt for food and 3. fend off enemies in hostile territory. (Which is also why we had a life raft. useless on the moon for its intended purposes -- flotation on water in the event of a water landing on earth), but a reasonable thing to have because.......
you could use the canister of CO2 used to inflate the raft for propulsion and/or use it for protection from heat and/or inclement weather.
At 10:42 AM 4/9/2008, Matt wrote:
>On Wed, Apr 09, 2008 at 07:34:50AM -0700, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>
> > [WS:] This is what I thought too, but I was not sure.
> > But besides the oxygen issue, how much propulsion
> > would you get on a 200 mile trip? The moon has some
> > gravity, so one cannot levitaate like in a zero
> > gravity condition - just make longer jumps (6 times
> > longer than on Earth, if memory serves.) Firing 12 or
> > so shots may add to the length of 12 jumps, but that
> > is a small part of a 200 mile journey, no?
>
>Sure, I'll do your physics homework for you. :-P
>
>The law we care about is Newton's Third: For Every Action, There Is An
>Equal And About Reaction.
>
>So, we need to calculate the Force of the bullet to then apply it to
>the mass of astro-shag to calculate how it accelerates her.
>
>Let's take a GI 1911 model .45 ACP, with 7 rounds in each clip and one
>in the chamber (astro-shag is locked and loaded to presumably fight
>off moon-monsters). A 10.7 g bullet has a muzzle velocity of 320
>m/s. We will use kinematics formula relating muzzle velocity,
>acceleration, and barrel length (5 in):
>
> v^2 = v0^2 + 2as
>
>for v0 at rest, is:
>
> a = v^2/2s = 4.03 * 10^5 m/s^2
>
>Force is then:
>
> F = m a = 43 * 10^2 kgm/s^2
>
>Let's say astro-shag is 120 lbs and wearing 80 lbs of gear, making the
>whole package 200 lbs, or about 90 kg. Again using the above equation:
>
> a = F / m = 47.9 m/s^2
>
>Back to kinematics:
>
> a = v^2/2s
>
>Using the above acceleration and the 5" barrel length we can calculate
>astro-shag's velocity after the bullet has left the gun:
>
> 3.49 m/s
>
>Astro-shag recalls from physics that with no air resistance, she can
>expect to move in a perfect parabola, and range is maximum when
>horizontal and vertical velocity are equal; i.e. she fires the gun at
>exactly 45 degrees. Derivation is left as an exercise for the
>reader, but range:
>
> R = v^2/g
>
>where g is the gravitational acceleration on the moon, which is
>1.62m/s^2. That makes astro-shag's maximum range from firing the gun
>7.52 meters. If she could fire all 16 rounds consecutively she could
>go 120 meters, which would be handy for crossing a chasm or some other
>precarious terrain.
>
>Corrections welcome; I did not check my work.
>
>
>Matt
>
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>
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