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An astronaut of mass 83.0 kg is taking a space walk to work on the International

ID: 1512919 • Letter: A

Question

An astronaut of mass 83.0 kg is taking a space walk to work on the International Space Station. Because of a malfunction with the booster rockets on his spacesuit, he finds himself drifting away from the station with a constant speed of 0.660m/s. With the booster rockets no longer working, the only way for him to return to the station is to throw the 9.40 kg wrench he is holding.

He throws the wrench with speed 16.22 m/s WITH RESPECT TO HIMSELF. (Hint: That is NOT the speed an observer on the space station would see. Think of a traveler walking on a moving walkway at the airport. The velocity of the traveler with respect to the ground equals the velocity of the traveler with respect to the moving walkway plus the velocity of the moving walkway with respect to the ground. For this problem, the velocity of the wrench with respect to the space station equals the velocity of the wrench with respect to the astronaut plus the FINAL velocity of the astronaut with respect to the space station.)
After he throws the wrench, how fast is the astronaut drifting toward the space station?
(1.15 m/s is NOT the correct answer)


Your response differs from the correct answer by more than 10%. Double check your calculations.
What is the speed of the wrench with respect to the space station?
(16.88 m/s is NOT the correct answer)

Explanation / Answer

conserve momentum

(m1+m2)U = m1v1 + m2v2

92.4 * 0.66 = 83*v1 + 9.4*(16.22 + v1) = 0

v1 = - 1.24 m/s { towards the space centre }

speed of wrench wrt space station

v2 = 16.22+ v1 = 17.46 m/s

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