Consider a person weighing 2000 N sitting on a lever arm. What is the minimum mass
that must be dropped from a height of 1000 meters, landing on the opposite side of the
lever to launch him to the international space station (400km in altitude)? Neglect air
resistance and assume all energy is transferred from the mass to the person. Remember
~g = −9.81 m/s2 ˆr is only true on the surface of earth.
Answer Box:
m = (77,000 kg, about 2 loaded semi trucks
dropped from the tallest building in the world)
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