Astronaut

Quote:

Originally Posted by elexis10

A 68.5 http://session.masteringphysics.com/render?units=kg astronaut is doing a repair in space on the orbiting space station. She throws a 2.40 http://session.masteringphysics.com/render?units=kg tool away from her at 3.60 http://session.masteringphysics.com/render?units=m%2Fs relative to the space station.

With what speed direction will she begin to move?

i figured it would be 3.60 m/s in the opposite direction but this answer doesnt seem to be correct and im not sure exactly why

any help would be appreciated thank you.

This is a conservation of momentum problem. The astronaut's momentum will be $-p$ , where $p$ is the momentum of the tool. Momentum is $m \bold{v}$ .

CB