Question

Floating in space doing repairs on the International Space Station, an astronaut finds
that the tether that normally allows him to return to the station has broken. He hold in
his hand a 5 kg wrench. If he throws the wrench away from him (and away from the
station) at 20 m/s, how fast will he be travelling towards the space station?

Answer 1

Answer:

Velocity=100/Mass of Astronaut

Explanation:

The momentum is conserved so moment of wrench at 20 m/s is:

5*20=100kg-m/s

Suppose the astronaut weighs Mₓ kg.

So his moment should be equal to that of the wrench. Let his velocity be V:

MₓV=100

V=100/Mₓ