Question

An astronaut with a mass of 81.4kg, finds herself 32.3m from her spaceship. The only way for her to return to the ship is to throw her 0.478kg wrench directly away from the ship. If she throws the wrench with a speed of 20.1m/s, how many seconds does it take her to reach the ship?

Answer 1

The time (in seconds) needed for her to get to her ship, given that she throws her wrench with a speed of 20.1 m/s, is 3.21 s

How to determine the time she will get to her ship?

The time (in seconds) needed for her to get to her ship can be calculated as shown below:

• Speed at which the wrench was thrown = 20.1 m/s
• Initial speed of astronaut (u) = Speed at which the wrench was thrown = 20.1 m/s
• Distance from space ship (s) = 32.3 m
• Final speed of astronaut (v) = 0 m/s
• Time taken to get to the ship (t) =?

`s = ((u\ +\ v)t)/(2) \\\\32.3 = ((20.1\ +\ 0)t)/(2)\\\\32.3 = (20.1t)/(2)\\\\Cross\ multiply\\\\32.3\ *\ 2 = 20.1t\\\\64.6 = 20.1t\\\\Divide\ both\ sides\ by\ 20.1\\\\t = (64.6)/(20.1) \\\\t = 3.21\ s`

Thus, the time take to get to the ship is 3.21 s