Question

"On a movie set, an alien spacecraft is to be lifted to a height of 32.0 m for use in a scene. The 260.0-kg spacecraft is attached by ropes to a massless pulley on a crane, and four members of the film's construction crew lift the prop at constant speed by delivering 135 W of power each. If 18.0% of the mechanical energy delivered to the pulley is lost to friction, what is the time interval required to lift the spacecraft to the specified height?"

Answer 1

Answer:

The time interval required to lift the spacecraft to this specified height is 123.94 seconds

Explanation:

Height through which the spacecraft is to be lifted = 32.0 m

Mass of the spacecraft = 260.0 kg

Four crew member each pull with a power of 135 W

18.0% of the mechanical energy is lost to friction.

work done in this situation is proportional to the mechanical energy used to move the spacecraft up

work done = (weight of spacecraft) x (the height through which it is lifted)

but the weight of spacecraft = mg

where m is the mass,

and g is acceleration due to gravity 9.81 m/s

weight of spacecraft = 260 x 9.81 = 2550.6 N

work done on the space craft = weight x height

==> work = 2550.6 x 32 = 81619.2 J

this is equal to the mechanical energy delivered to the system

18.0% of this mechanical energy delivered to the pulley is lost to friction.

this means that

0.18 x 81619.2  = 14691.456 J   is lost to friction.

Total useful mechanical energy =  81619.2 J - 14691.456 J = 66927.74 J

Total power delivered by the crew to do this work = 135 x 4 = 540 W

But we know tat power is the rate at which work is done i.e

$P = \frac{w}{t}$

where p is the power

where w is the useful work done

t is the time taken to do this work

imputing values, we'll have

540 = 66927.74/t

t = 66927.74/540

time taken t = 123.94 seconds