Question

Pretend you (80 kg) are making repairs on the outside of the International Space Station. You are floating 20 meters away from the space station when your safety rope comes loose. You throw your 10 kg tool-bag away from the space station in order to return to the station. If you are able to throw the bag at 5 m/s, how long does it take you to reach the station safely?

Answer 1

Answer:

32 seconds

Explanation:

m1 = 80 kg

m2 = 10 kg

v2 = 5m/s

According to the property of conservation of momentum, assuming that both you and the bag are stationary before the safety rope comes lose:

$m_{1} v_{1} =m_{2} v_{2} \\80v_{1} =10*5 \\v_{1} = 0.625\ m/s$

Since the space station is 20 meters away, the time taken to reach it is given by:

$t = \frac{20}{0.625}\\t=32\ s$

It takes you 32 seconds to reach the station.