how do you move in space ??

Question

what happens the astronaut falls out of his space station and the life line is cut. Though he will survive for some time because of the space suit but will he be able to get back to the space station?? (can he throw out some item from his suit and generate reverse force..newtons' third law)

Answer 1

Assuming an astronaut became separated from the ship or station he was aboard, he would continue to drift with the same motion that was imparted to his body mass when he lost physical contact. To return to the ship he must briefly fire off some jet of gas or other pressurised chemical which will provide thrust. Simply discarding an item on the space suit attachments would not be sufficient...the force must be steady for a while to generate the required acceleration to manuver back.

Note that his general speed in relation to the ship or space station would remain the same. The only troublesome thing is that last little bit of energy that popped him loose from his tether. That burst of thrust
has to be counteracted for him to return.

Answer 2

Newtons laws are all that prevail in space (as any where phisical you are likly to find yourself) so you would have to eject a mass from the space suit in the opposite direction to the the line of travel you wish to take. However the mass of the object ejected would have to be the same as the astronaut to get the same speed. plus you would have to first arrest the motion already experienced by leaving the station. The answer therefore is you are doomed.
maybe (billions to one) if the distance is short and you have a fully compressed tank you could pin hole the suit to provide a small jet of compressed gas how ever this would only last minutes and then suffocation for you.

Answer 3

You're right about Newton's third law. If the astronaut wants to move, he has to throw something away. If he can throw it slowly, then it will have to be a large mass. But he can achieve the same effect by throwing something small which is moving very quickly, as momentum is the product of mass and velocity.

Astronauts carry tiny rockets which they can fire off. These shoot gas out at high speed, so it only takes a small amount of gas to get the astronaut moving.

Answer 4

1st: A body will remain at rest or at motion with a uniform speed
unless it is acted on by an external force.
2nd: The acceleration of a body with a force acting on it is that
force divided by the mass of the body (F=ma)
3rd: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

So the third law basically says that if you shoot out stuff in one direction you will move in the other direction. This is how rockets work in a vacuum. They have a source of fuel which is heated up so that it expands and is pushed out of the rocket. In order to change direction in space rockets have to have little 'thrusters' on all sides (you need 6 in total to maneuver completely in 3 dimensions).

Newton's 3rd law seems contrary to our intuition because on Earth there are lots of sources of friction - providing much easier methods of propulsion, however you might have seen it in action if you have ever blown up a balloon and then let go of it before tying it up. What pushes the balloon all around the room is the air you blew into in escaping.

Answer 5

Poke a tiny hole in the finger of the space suit, open and close the hole by pinching off the opening,. Using air pressure as a propulsion source, direct yourself to a shallow planetary orbit. Fashion a surf board out of some space debris
. Maintain a sshallow reentry angle, using the surf board as a heat shield,
Try to ride it all the way in and glide towards an ocean, near the shore,. Keep looking out to sea for a good swell , and see if you can land in front of the swell, with enough speed to catch , the wave, .
Stay in the tube as long as possible, then kick out, before the wave closes on you.

Paddle back out just beyond the breakers, and look for another big swell.

Answer 6

The astronaut could throw something but this would have to be a fairly large item to produce the energy required for much movement. Possibly they could vent an air hose hook-up if it's removable. Otherwise it's the end.

Answer 7

For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. They push off to move in space. If an astronaut were to lose his lifeline, eva spacesuits have tiny thrusters they can use to manuver back to the space station.

Answer 8

Basically, he would just float and keep floating in the direction he is traveling, until he can grab onto something and push in the direction he wants.

Answer 9

With his thrusters, if these fails he needs to propel him self by farting....oh hang on, they will just get caught in his spacesuit. Yeah im not sure.