An astronaut is accidentally separated from his small spaceship which is accelerating in inter stellar space at a constant rate of
1
0
0
m/s
2
. What is the acceleration of the astronaut the instant after he is outside the spaceship?
Details
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
Right, but at the same time, more force would be exerted the closer to earth he gets, and since acceleration is proportional, it should increase too , right ?
Log in to reply
Earth was never mentioned in the question so doesn't come into play.
Log in to reply
It is mentioned that it is interstellar space - far enough from Earth that the gravitational force is effectively zero. Ignore the picture.
I assumed that there are no stars nor planets, only the astronaut and the spaceship, but it's true :)
Good observation! First the masses of the astronaut and the spacecraft are so infinitesimal that the gravitational force between them would be practically indiscernible. The gravitational constant itself is infinitesimal at 6.674×10−11 N · (m/kg)2. The actual gravity is reduced even further because the force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers of gravity. Also, at such close distances and small masses, they must be treated as bodies with spacial extent rather than point masses, meaning that only the smallest mass of the ship closest to the smallest mass of the astronaut's closest extremity experiences any significant gravitational force, which quickly approaches a negligible magnitude because the ship is accelerating away from the astronaut. Finally, this infinitesimal gravitational force was completely negated by the force required to exit the ship, so that the NET force at exit is actually ZERO.
Here is an interesting aside. If the escape velocity of earth's gravitational field is about 11.186 km/s, what would the escape velocity of the ship's gravitational field be?
Yeah.
I answered the last one and was surprised by the 'Incorrect'
That is so miniscule that it is almost equal to zero
What about acceleration due to earth, g
Log in to reply
They are in interstellar space, so the Earth is a long, long way away.
They meant small ship, by default the g due to the ship is neglected... It's highly impossible to measure small force on him.
the qustion is correct but the picture given is misleading since it shows the astronaut and the spaceship orbiting around the earth and in that case the astronaut will be under free fall along with the spaceship so it will have centrepetal acceleration.
I suppose it's just because we don't have many photos of astronauts in interstellar space? It is misleading, but it's also not claiming to be a picture of the problem. Given that the problem states 'interstellar space', I think its fine.
Without any kind of force you cannot accelerate be it external or internal. Even if u think you can accelerate using your own muscles you still need the frictional force to do so. In inter-stellar space the lack of gravity means you just float due to lack of boundaries without accelerating. Once the contact with a spaceship is lost, the driving force( jet fuel) is no longer there to accelerate. So, any object, be it living or non-living cannot accelerate.
Correct answer: The net force acting on him, once he is out of the spaceship is zero and acceleration is also zero. Your answer: There is not net force acting on him,so he has no acceleration.
This is confusing.
Log in to reply
the reason he has no acceleration is because he has no net force once he is out of the spaceship! That's what i answered.
Log in to reply
Your ans is correct Arnab, my claim is there are two correct ans will similar languages. Either I am misreading something or there are two correct solutions.
Log in to reply
@Ashish Bhatia – there are two correct answers which differ a little only as far as the language is concerned. the meaning is the same.
The units in the question should read m s − 2 , not m s − 1 . Also, I agree with Arnab that the answers are a bit misleading - I don't think you can have two correct responses to a question?
This is a very poorly phrased question with equally horrible answer options. Please edit.
What about the gravitational force of attraction between the spaceship and the astronaut? That is a net force - no matter how miniscule. The acceleration will be very small - but NOT zero !!
acceleration = Force / mass. Force = 0 (No Gravitational Force) implies acceleration = 0.
Is the qualifying characteristic "living or non-living" necessary for solution of the problem?
Difference between answers 3 and 4??
Option 2 & 3 are very similar and misleading..... I gave option 3 as my answer but the correct answer turned out to be option 2..... Secondly, the unit of acceleration is m/s^2 and not m/s.
This question has a couple of issues with it. The acceleration should be in correct units m/s is simply a velocity and secondly it doesn't state where the force is from!
I am much happy with all these problems .i solve and this is that as soon as he comes out ,heis in space.so no force can be there and so no acceleration prabir kumar ray India.
As a math teacher, I know that problems in a question arise when you try to trick your students... Boo to this problem.
Doesn't he have a gravitational force applied to him by the spaceship he just left? Everything has a force acting upon two objects, therefore the space ship should be pulling him closer to it since there's no other forces acting on him.
doesnt the astronaut get momentum from said frictions between him and the ship?
I don't believe the astronaut left the spacecraft accidentally. An acceleration of 100 m/s2 is over 10g and would be extremely uncomfortable to say the least. He/she obviously had enough and got out.
According to the given question, there is not any external forces like gravitational force, friction force or any other contact forces acting on astronaut when he separate from his spaceship. Therefore there is not any acceleration of astronaut without any external force.
In the absence of any external force (outside space ship), net acceleration on the body is zero, by Newtons first Law and due to the bad luck of the astronaut.
Problem Loading...
Note Loading...
Set Loading...
There is a force acting on him: the gravitational force exerted by the spaceship. That means that the astronaut will have less acceleration than the spaceship, but it won't be 0. The correct answer should be the last one.