An 80.0 kg astronaut is working on the engines of his spaceship, which is drifti

Question

An 80.0 kg astronaut is working on the engines of his spaceship, which is drifting through space with a constant velocity. The astronaut, wishing to get a better view of the Universe, pushes against the ship and later finds himself 26.0 m behind the ship and moving so slowly that he can be considered to be at rest. Without a thruster, the only way to return to the ship is to throw his 0.500 kg wrench directly away from the ship. If he throws the wrench with a speed of 22.0 m/s, how long does it take him to reach the ship?

Explanation / Answer

This is conservation of momentum, first law. There is no net force on the astronaut - wrench system and the initial momentum is zero so: 0 = mass astronaut* velocity astronaut + mass wrench * velocity wrench 0 = 80*v + .500 * 22 80 v = 11 v = .1375 m/sec time taken = distance / speed t = 26/.1375 t = 189.0909 sec

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