Question

The earth exerts a downward force of 850 N on a veteran astronaut as he works outside the space shuttle. What force (if any) does the astronaut exert on the earth?

Answer 1

The astronaut exerts an equal and opposite force of 850 N on the Earth, reflecting Newton's Third Law of Motion, which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question poses a classic example of Newton's Third Law of Motion, often summarized as 'For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.'

When the Earth exerts a downward force of 850 N on an astronaut, the astronaut exerts an equal and opposite force of 850 N back on the Earth. This is the reaction force. While we typically don't perceive the Earth's movement in response to such forces due to its massive size, the forces are nonetheless equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.

So, the force the astronaut exerts on the Earth is also 850 N, despite the fact that their mass is much smaller than that of Earth. The larger mass of Earth means that any acceleration it experiences due to this force is negligible and not observable.