There is a flight and space theme to this session. To get started, let’s revise the principles of circular motion.
Circular motion
Here is a simple example of circular motion, and an attempt to visualise angular velocity.
Geostationary satellites follow circular paths. In this video you can calculate the position of a geostationary satellite using only Newton’s law of gravitation and circular motion. Grab a pen and paper, start watching the video and pause it once the problem is defined. You can continue playing the video to see the worked solution.
Want to find out more?
For each session we will highlight some further resources where you can find out more – these are not essential but if you are interested you might find them interesting.
Book Suggestion
The Physics Book, forward by Jim Al-Khalili, Doring Kindersley, 2020.
An important skill for engineers and scientists is the ability to relay complex information to non-technical audiences. This new book does this in an excellent way through excellent writing and DK’s team of graphic designers.
Time to have a go
This is a 30-60min activity which you can complete by yourself or with a group.
The aim of the activity is to design a Martian House, taking account of the Mars environment and the practicalities of living on another planet. It consists of some background reading/research and then the creation of a design of a house. It is based on a project to build a Martian House by the Bristol-based artists Ella and Nicki and has been developed by Professor of Space Systems Engineering at the University of Bristol, Lucy Berthoud.
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