An 79.8 kg astronaut is taking a space walk to work on the engines of his ship,

Question

An 79.8 kg astronaut is taking a space walk to work on the engines of his ship, 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 much later finds himself 29.5 m behind the ship. Without a thruster or tether, the only way to return to the ship is to throw his 0.490 kg wrench directly away from the ship. If he throws the wrench with a speed of 20.2 m/s relative to the ship, how long does it take the astronaut to reach the ship?

Explanation / Answer

An 79.8 kg astronaut is taking a space walk to work on the engines of his ship, 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 much later finds himself 29.5 m behind the ship. Without a thruster or tether, the only way to return to the ship is to throw his 0.490 kg wrench directly away from the ship. If he throws the wrench with a speed of 20.2 m/s relative to the ship, how long does it take the astronaut to reach the ship? by conservation of momentum, the momentum of the astronaut should be equal to that of the tether. Thus, 0.48(20.2) = (79.8)(Vs) where Vs is velocity os astronaut relative to ship. Thus, Vs = 0.122m/s. This is the initial velocity. Since there is no acceleration or deceleration i space, the time taken to reach the ship will be distance / speed = 29.5/0.122 = .........

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