Question

An astronaut with a mass of `75 kg` is floating in space. If the astronaut throws a `4 kg` object at a speed of `6 m/s`, how much will his speed change by?

Answer 1

`.32 ms^(-1)`

Explanation:

As the astronaut is floating in the space, there is no force acting on the system. So the total momentum is conserved.

`"Intital momentum" = "final momentum"`

`0=m_("astronaut")*v_("astronaut") +m_("object")*v_("object")`

`-75 kg * v = 6kg * 4ms^(-1)`

`v = - .32 ms^(-1)`