Question

superman with a mass of 150 kg , goes to outer space to push a 125000 kg alien spaceship out of the stationary orbit. he use his super strength and pushes the ship away at a speed of 150 m/s. what is the speed of superman after his big push?

Answer 1

125000 m/s

Step-by-step explanation:

From the law of conservation of linear momentum, the sum of initial and final momentum are zero. Momentum is given as p=mv where p represent momentum, m is mass of an object and v is the velocity. In this case, the initial momentum is zero since both are stationery. The final momentum sums should also be zero.

Final momentum

Mass of superman*speed + Mass of spaceship*speed of spaceship=0

150v+(125000*150)=0

150v=(12500*-150)

v=-12500 m/s

Therefore, the superman will have a speed of 12500 m/s in opposite direction of the spaceship