Question

To successfully escape a planet's gravity, a space ship must achieve escape velocity, which for Earth is 11.2 km/s or 25,054 miles per hour. If a ship reaches this speed and maintains it, then neglecting the need to slow down prior to landing, how long would it take the ship to reach the Moon

Answer 1

The space ship would take 9.534 hours to reach the Moon.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let suppose that space ship travels at constant speed, the distance between Earth and the Moon is approximately 384400 kilometers. Then, the time required to reach the Moon is:

`t = (s)/(v)`

Where:

`t` - Time, measured in seconds.

`s` - Distance between Earth and the Moon, measured in kilometers.

`v` - Escape velocity, measured in kilometers per second.

If we know that
`s = 384400\,km` and
`v = 11.2\,(km)/(s)`, then:

`t = (384400\,km)/(11.2\,(km)/(s) )`

`t = 34321.429\,s` (
`9.534\,h`)

The space ship would take 9.534 hours to reach the Moon.