Question

Imagine two astronauts in a circular orbit around the Earth moving at 20,000 km/h. They have the same mass and are aligned so that their bodies are at the same distance from Earth as one another. They are holding hands. If they let go of each other's hands, what will happen to them?

a) both of them will fall to Earth
b) one or both of them will fly away from Earth
c) they will drift apart from one another
d) they will remain close together
e) they will collide with one another

Answer 1

Upon letting go of each other's hands in orbit, the two astronauts would drift apart from each other due to the absence of air resistance and other forces in space.

Step-by-step explanation:

If two astronauts in a circular orbit around the Earth let go of each other's hands, they will drift apart from one another (option c). This is because they are in a state of free fall, and just like the example of people throwing a ball to each other in a bottomless chasm where the ball remains in a straight line between them due to the same rate of downward acceleration, the astronauts too will maintain their own separate orbits.

Once they let go, there's no other force acting on them that would push them back together or cause them to collide or move away from Earth significantly. The absence of air resistance in space would ensure that they continue to move at the same velocity but begin to drift apart due to the subtle differences in their individual momentum and the possible small perturbations caused by their release.