How fast can you set the Earth moving? In particular, when you jump straight up as high as you can, what is the order of magnitude of the maximum recoil speed that you give to the Earth? Model the Earth as a perfectly solid object. In your solution, state the physical quantities you take as data, and the values you measure or estimate for them.
2006-10-22 04:29:07 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
This problem is about conservation of momentum. Before you jump the momentum of the you+earth system is zero.
0 = m1*v1b+m2*v2b.
Where v1b = m1's velocity before the jump. (Not counting our revolution and rotation. The momentum we will are concerned with is separate from those.)
Immediately after your jump, your momentum will be m1*v1a. Per conservation of momentum,
0 = m1*v1a+m2*v2a
So m1*v1a = -m2*v2a
2006-10-22 08:33:19 · answer #1 · answered by sojsail 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth
mass of the Earth: 5.9742Ã10^24 kg
mass of You: ~50 kg
Do the math
2006-10-22 11:55:07 · answer #2 · answered by arbiter007 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋