Quote:
Originally Posted by tkwetzel
This is interesting, because this maximum velocity is relative to the robot. They did not think this through, because technically, whatever is being sent over the bar is part of the robot.
|
Technically, thou sayest? What dost thou mean with this "technically"? Really, I seemed to get a slight perception that FIRST wanted us to exercise common sense (something in there was vaguely about safety I think), and there was some statement degrading lawyers (alas! my future profession). Really, though, Dean explicitly said not to over-interpret the rules -- he said that he uses words to "mean what they mean" (stradling is stradling, for crying out loud). I for one like the idea of a minimalist rules book. I mean, 3 rules for scoring! 3! I could barely believe it.
I feel your pain. I as well cannot resist (my physics teacher must have done something right ... or would that be wrong
)
Anyway, let's see some accuracy. Why assume that U=mgy is "good enough" afterall! So,
dU = GMm/r - GMm/(r+y) = 1/2 mv^2
(dU means delta U, G is gravitation const., M is mass of earth, r is radius of earth, ..)
Upon solving, y = 5.10! Considerably less than 5.55. I used the values,
G = 6.67 * 10^-11
M = 5.98 * 10^+24
r = 6.38 * 10^6
(something I'm not remembering right from all the physics lectures I slept through?)