An astronaut with a mass of #110 kg# is floating in space. If the astronaut throws a #3 kg# object at a speed of #3 m/s#, how much will his speed change by?
1 Answer
Dec 29, 2017
The change in speed of the astronaut is
Explanation:
We have conservation of momentum
The initial speeds of the object and the astronaut are
The mass of the object is
The speed of the object is
The mass of the astronaut is
Therefore,
The negative sign indicates that the astronaut will move in the opposite direction of the object.