What if the mass of a system is not constant, like with a rocket? Most of the mass of a rocket when it's on the launch pad is fuel, but that gets burned and ejected through the rocket engine. So we have to use Newton's Second Law to not only the rocket alone but also to the rocket and its ejected combustion products all taken together, so the mass of the system doesn't change as the rocket accelerates... this makes solving the problem a LOT easier.

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2 Responses to “Non-constant Mass”

  1. Aurora Lipper says:

    You’re right the value is 7000. Not sure where 6440 came from.

  2. herdingkittens says:

    At 3:50 it says 6400 Newtons, but I got 7000. What’s going on?