A 85.5 kg astronaut is working on the engines of a spaceship that is drifting though space with a constant velocity. The astronaut turns away to look at Earth and several seconds later is 39.1 m behind the ship, at rest relative to the spaceship. The only way to return to the ship is to tho a wrench directly away from the ship. The wrench has a mass of 0.577 kg, and the astronaut throws the wrench at a speed of 24.0 m/s. How long does it take the austronaut to reach the ship?
2007-12-01 12:55:07 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Using conservation of momentum
85.5*v-0.577*24=0
solve for v
and v*t=39.1
v=0.162 m/s
t=241 seconds or
4 minutes, 1 second
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2007-12-01 13:05:23 · answer #1 · answered by odu83 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The astronaut has a non-zero velocity away from the ship or he wouldn't be 39.1m away but we aren't given the info to find that so we are going to assume his velocity is exactly equal to the ships. In this frame his momentum is zero. After he throws the wrench his momentum is equal to the wrench's except toward the ship. 24*.577=13.85mkg/s
So his speed is 13.85/(85.5-.577)=.163m/s.
So time required to reach the ship is
39.1/.163=239.8s=4 minutes.
2007-12-01 13:21:59 · answer #2 · answered by oldschool 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Uhh, Me? Wait, I gotta see the tape first.
2007-12-01 12:58:10 · answer #3 · answered by Snakebite 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
nice answer.
2007-12-01 13:15:28 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋