Question

An astronaut on spacewalk floats a little to far from space station without air to push against he can’t paddle back however he is holding a hammer explain how he could use the hammer to get him back to space station l

Answer 1

The astronaut can throw the hammer in a direction away from the space station. While he is holding the hammer, the total momentum of the astronaut and hammer is 0 kg • m/s. According to the law of conservation of momentum, the total momentum after he throws the hammer must still be 0 kg • m/s. In order for momentum to be conserved, the astronaut will have to move in the opposite direction of the hammer, which will be toward the space station.

Explanation:found this as a verified answer on here

Answer 2

He can throw the hammer in the direction opposite to the direction he wants to travel in. The hammer will exert an equal and opposite force on him, as per Newton's third law, and this will help him move towards the space station

Explane

above