PhysicsLAB Amusing Problems
Superman

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In this episode, fortune comes to Dr. J. The U.S. Government temporarily releases him from his duties with the CIA to work with the FCC investigating consumer complaints of false advertising on TV. Dr. J has plenty of time to devote to this new endeavor because his college students are on spring break and the members of SAP are all on strike. (They are staying at the SAP-On-Strike headquarters - the so-called S.O.S. pad.) Dr. J's toughest job is to investigate the claim that Superman can fly faster than a speeding bullet. He negotiates a settlement whereby Superman agrees to race against a speeding bullet. The bullet is fired at a speed of 590 m/sec, and they're off! Superman, however, watches the bullet instead of where he is going and flies into a giant calorimeter (mass = 1500 kg, specific heat = 0.20 cal/g Cº). Eighty percent of the kinetic energy is converted to heat energy, with fifty percent of the heat energy being absorbed by the calorimeter. The temperature of the calorimeter rises 10º C.
 
If Superman weighs 1000 N, how much faster or slower than the bullet was he going?

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