In: Physics
While working on the digital effects for Star Wars XXIII, you find yourself responsible for a scene in which a TIE fighter (of mass m) crashes and embeds itself into a Star Destroyer (of mass 20m). To improve upon the scientific realism of the series, you decide to calculate the physics of the collision. Model the TIE fighter as a point particle and the Star Destroyer as a rod; assume that the fighter hits close to one end of the Destroyer and is traveling perpendicular to it at 500 m/s at the time of impact. You estimate that the Star Destroyer is 100 m long.
(a) What is the cruiser's final rate of rotation?
(b) At what speed does the cruiser's center of mass move after the collision?