What is The amount of force needed to sustain motion of a rock in outer space?

1 Answer
Jan 14, 2018

There is NO need for a force to SUSTAIN the motion of a rock in outer space.

Explanation:

In the outer space, there is no resistance, because there are no particles in it. Hence, a moving object will continue to move till infinity unless a forced against it is applied to make it stop. A stationary object will remain stationary unless a force is applied to make it move.

Since the object in question is already moving, we don't need to apply any force to sustain the mouvement.

On Earth, if you roll a bowling ball on the ground, it will end up stopping, because of the friction with the ground and because of the air resistance. If you want it to continue moving and not stop, you would need to apply constant force on the bowling ball and overcome the resistance of the ground and the air.

In space, there's no resistance, so there's no need to apply a force to sustain the motion of the moving rock.