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An astronaut with a mass of #85 kg# is floating in space. If the astronaut throws a #15 kg# object at a speed of #2/5 m/s#, how much will his speed change by?

Answer 1

#-0.070 m/s #

Considering no other forces acting on the system,we can say momentum will be conserved. So,after throwing the mass if velocity of the astronaut be #x m/s # then we can say,

#0 = 15*(2/5) + 85*x # i.e #-0.070 m/s# negative sign means that the astronaut will move opposite to the direction in which he threw the mass.

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Answer 2

Elena Albarran

The astronaut's speed will change by approximately 0.035 m/s.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.