A 62 kg astronaut is space-walking outside the space capsule and is stationary when the tether line breaks. As a means of return
2 answers:
To solve this problem we must apply the concepts related to the conservation of momentum. We have the two masses of the bodies and the velocity of one of those bodies. Therefore, the initial momentum is equivalent to the final momentum. Mathematically this can be expressed as
Replacing with our values,
Solving for ,
Therefore the speed that the astronaut move toward the capsule is 1.09m/s
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The new gravitation force at the new location is 40 N
Explanation:
The weight of the astronaut is given by the equation
(1)
where
m is the mass of the astronaut
g is the acceleration of gravity
The acceleration of gravity at a certain distance from the centre of the Earth is given by
where G is the gravitational constant and M is the Earth's mass. So we can rewrite eq.(1) as
When the astronaut is on the Earth's surface, (where R is the Earth's radius), so his weight is
Later, he moves to another location where his distance from the Earth's surface is 3 times the previous distance, so the new distance from the Earth's centre is
Therefore, the new weight is
Which means that his weight has decreased by a factor 16: therefore, the new weight is
Learn more about gravitational force:
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