Solve Momentum Questions with Help | Physics Homework Assistance

[xwildhtdx]

Alright, so I am working on my physics homework right now and there's two problems that I have no idea what I need to do. I am not even sure what formulas i need to start with or anything. i was hoping someone on here might be able to help me out with these two questions.

Question #1

"An astronaut is working around the Internation Space Station (ISS) attached by a tether cord. The snap on the tether fails and he finds himself adrift, but stationary relative to the ISS. This astronaut was a former physics student and knows that if he can throw some objects away from himself in the right direction, he can properl himself back to the station. His tool kit has a 1.20 kg torque wrench, a .70 kg nut driver, and a .35kg bolt. The astronaut, his suit, an all of his gear have an initial mass of 105.00 kg. if he throws away each of the items in his tool kit at 3.0m/s, one at a time, what will be his final speed relative to the ISS?"


Question #2

"Two identical air track gliders of mass .125kg approach each other at equal speeds of .500 m/s. Assume that the two gliders are a system. Since the center of mass of a system of objects is the point at which all of the mass can be assumed to be concentrated, choose a convenient coordinate system and determine the location of the center of mass for the following times :
a) .5 seconds before the collision
b) collision
c) .5seconds after the collision.

Question #3 (goes with question #2)

Now, determine the speed of the center of mass of a system of the two gliders if glider 1 is stationary and glider 2 approaches glider 1 at .500 m/s to the right. what is the momentum of the system in this case?"

 

[Snazzy]

Use conservation of momentum equations. The total momentum will be constant.

 

[Moetasim]

To solve these momentum questions, we need to use the principle of conservation of momentum. This states that the total momentum of a system remains constant unless acted upon by an external force. In the first question, the astronaut and his gear form the system, so the initial and final momentums must be equal. We can use the formula P = mv, where P is momentum, m is mass, and v is velocity.

For question #1, we can calculate the initial momentum of the system by adding the momentum of each object in the astronaut's toolkit (torque wrench, nut driver, and bolt) to the momentum of the astronaut himself. This will give us the initial momentum of the system.

Next, we can calculate the final momentum of the system by adding the final momentums of each object after they are thrown away by the astronaut. We know the mass and velocity of each object, so we can use the formula P = mv to calculate their individual momentums. Once we have the final momentums of each object, we can add them together to get the final momentum of the system.

Since the initial and final momentums must be equal, we can set the equations equal to each other and solve for the final velocity of the astronaut. This will give us the final speed relative to the ISS.

For question #2, we can use the same principle of conservation of momentum. In this case, the two gliders form the system. We can calculate the initial momentum of the system by adding the momentum of each glider. Since they are approaching each other at equal speeds, their momentums will be equal but in opposite directions. This means that the initial momentum of the system will be zero.

For part a), we can use the formula P = mv to calculate the momentum of each glider at 0.5 seconds before the collision. We can then find the center of mass of the system by using the formula xcm = (m1x1 + m2x2)/M, where xcm is the location of the center of mass, m1 and m2 are the masses of the two gliders, x1 and x2 are the positions of the gliders, and M is the total mass of the system.

For part b), the collision will happen at the center of mass of the system, so the location will be the same as the center of mass calculated in part a).

For part c), we can use the same formula as part a