An 70 kg astronaut is floating in the +x direction with a speed of 0.5 m/s. His colleague throws him a 100 gram wrench in the +y direction with a speed of 10 m/s. What is the velocity of the astronaut after he catches the wrench?
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Momentum of the astronaut = vector (70*0.5, 0) = vector (35,0)
Momentum of the wrench = vector (0, 0.1*10) = vector (0,1)
Momentum of the system astronaut+wrench = vector (35,1)
Velocity of the system astronaut+wrench = vector (35,1)/(70.1)
Speed = √(35² + 1²)/70.1 = 0.499 m/s
Momentum of the wrench = vector (0, 0.1*10) = vector (0,1)
Momentum of the system astronaut+wrench = vector (35,1)
Velocity of the system astronaut+wrench = vector (35,1)/(70.1)
Speed = √(35² + 1²)/70.1 = 0.499 m/s
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Sorry can i ask where did you get the "70.1" from?
70.1 kg is the total mass of the astronaut (70 kg) and the wrench (100g or 0.1 kg)
70.1 kg is the total mass of the astronaut (70 kg) and the wrench (100g or 0.1 kg)
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