A 150-lb astronaut is drifting forward in an orbiting space shuttle at 1.00 in/s. A fellow astronaut throws her a 0.50-lb orange, which she catches. If she then starts to move backward at 0.50 in/s, what was the speed of the orange?

Question

wolfe8 · Answer

Note that the resulting movement has a net force from both objects with momentum Fnet=Fastr.+Forg. And that F=ma

wolfe8 · Answer

...Dang it I meant to put momentum not force. p=mv. So resulting movement is based on net momentum.

anonymous · Answer

can you explain how to solve this problem?

wolfe8 · Answer

Well it uses the principle of conservation of momentum. So the momentum of the astronaut must be the same as her momentum with the apple's. So you will have the initial momentum to only be the momentum of the astronaut. Since it is an inelastic collision(she holds the orange instead of the orange bouncing off her), the final momentum will be the total of their mass times their new velocity. Can you do it from here?