October Sky

October Sky Vocabulary:

1. auk	2. chamber	3. combustion
4. exhaust	5. fuse	6. Hodgkin's disease
7. ignition	8. missile	9. nozzle
10. orbit	11. prodigious	12. propellant
13. remission	14. satellite	15. sonic
16. Sputnik	17. weld

October Sky Discussion Questions:

1. Why are satellites visible only about an hour after sunset and before dawn?

2. At the rate of an orbit every 96 minutes, how many orbits could Sputnik make per day?

3. Why was Sputnik important? How have satellites and rocketry changed life on Earth?

4. Use the formula to compute the height of a rocket climbing 12 seconds and 14 seconds:

S = ½ at²

S = distance (height) traveled
a = the gravitational constant = 32 feet per second squared = 32 ^ft/_sec² = 9.8 meters per second squared = 9.8 ^m/_s²
t = time in seconds

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