Two astronauts, Hans and Dexter, are on a spacewalk floating at rest next to the

Question

Two astronauts, Hans and Dexter, are on a spacewalk floating at rest next to their space vehicle. They argue and Hans shoots Dexter with a handgun. The bullet has a mass of 0.015 kg and a muzzle velocity of 250 m/s. Hans now finds himself drifting away from the spacecraft

a.) Hans and his spacesuit have a mass of 200 kg. how fast is he drifting away

b.) Hans only had one bullet, but he is holding a gun that has a mass of 1.1 kg. how fast must he throw it to stop drifting away from the spacecraft?

c.) Meanwhile, on earth, a solid cylinder of mass 5kg rolls without slipping toward a hill with a velocity of 5 m/s. how high up the hill will the cylinder roll?

Explanation / Answer

USING LAW OF conservation of momentum

momentum of the bullet + momentum of hans and spacesuit = 0

(m1*u1)+(m2*u2) = 0

u2 = (-m1*u1)/m2 = (-0.015*250)/200 = -0.01875

hans and spacecraft has a velocity 0.01875 m/s in the opposite direction to bullet

B) momentum of hans and spacecraft + momentum of the gun = 0

(200*0.01875) = (1.1*V)

V = 3.4 m/s

C) 0.5*m*v^2 = m*g*h

hight h = 0.5*v^2/g = (0.5*3.4*3.4)/9.81 = 0.589 m

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