Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 316 1 v Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let be the parent comet's diameter, with the same mass density as the fragments, so . The required geometric cross-section is , using the corrected phase-mixed orbit interpretation.
Substitute this and the spherical mass into the endpoint-dominated fragment formula. The parent-body size from a fragment cross-section becomesThe common mass density cancels. The comet's radius is . This expression treats both fragment cutoffs as specified independently and has the same endpoint-approximation restrictions as part (iii).