Science Education Standards:

Earth and Space Science -- Content Standard D:

Energy in the Earth System

• Earth systems have internal and external sources of energy, both of which create heat. The sun is the major external source of energy. Two primary sources of internal energy are the decay of radioactive isotopes and the gravitational energy from the Earth's original formation.
• The outward transfer of Earth's internal heat drives convection circulation in the mantle that propels the plates comprising Earth's surface across the face of the globe.

The Origin and Evolution of the Earth System

• Interactions among the solid Earth, the oceans, the atmosphere, and organisms have resulted in the ongoing evolution of the Earth system. We can observe some changes such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on a human time scale, but many processes such as mountain building and plate movements take place over hundreds of millions of years.

Short Description: Page 77. Students examine the famous Krakatoa explosion, asteroid impacts on the Moon and geysers on Enceladus using three equations that describe the height of the plume and initial velocity to answer questions about the speed of the debris and terminal height.

There are three equations that describe projectile motion on a planet:

Equation 1: Maximum velocity, V, needed to reach a height, H:

Equation 2: Maximum horizontal distance, X:

Equation 3: Time, T, required to reach maximum horizontal distance:

In all three equations, g is a constant and is the acceleration of gravity at the surface of the planet, and all units are in meters or seconds.

Problem 1 - The volcano, Krakatoa, exploded on August 26, 1883 and obliterated an entire island. The detonation was heard over 2000 kilometers away in Australia, and was the loudest sound created by Nature in recorded human history! If the plume of gas and rock reached an altitude of H=17 miles (26 kilometers) what was the speed of the gas, V, that was ejected, in A) kilometers/hour? B) miles/hour? C) What was farthest horizontal distance, X, in kilometers that the ejecta reached? D) How long, T, did it take for the ejecta to travel the maximum horizontal distance? E) About 30,000 people were killed in the explosion. Why do you think there were there so many casualties? (Note: g = 9.8 meters/sec² for Earth.)

Problem 2 - An asteroid collides with the lunar surface and ejects lunar material at a speed of V=3,200 kilometers/hr. A) How high up, H, does it travel before falling back to the surface? B) The escape speed from the lunar surface is 8,500 km/hr. From your answer to Problem 1, would a 'Krakatoa' explosion on the moon's surface have been able to launch lunar rock into orbit? (Note: g = 1.6 meters/sec² for the Moon.)

Problem 3 - Plumes of gas are ejected by geysers on the surface of the satellite of Saturn called Enceladus. If g = 0.1 meters/sec², and H = 750 km, what is the speed of the gas, V, in the ejection in kilometers/hr?

Inquiry Problem: Program an Excel Spreadsheet to calculate the various quantities in the three equations given input data about the planet and ejecta. How does the maximum ejection velocity and height change with the value of g used for a variety of bodies in the solar system?