If an astronaut freely floating in space tries to throw away a spent fuel container that has the sam...........

Science Affairs Physics

If an astronaut, freely floating in space, tries to throw away a spent fuel container that has the same mass as the astronaut himself, what will happen to the astronaut?

Nothing happens to the astronaut. He will stay where he is and the container will fly away at the speed given to it by the astronaut.

The astronaut will recoil slightly but quickly stop while the container continues moving away at a constant speed

The astronaut moves away in an opposite direction just as fast as the container moves

Nothing happens to the astronaut or container. The astronaut cannot throw the container since he has no firm ground to stand on

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Explanation:

Law of conservation of momentum: The law of conservation of momentum states that for two objects colliding in an isolated system, the total momentum before and after the collision is equal. This is because the momentum lost by one object is equal to the momentum gained by the other.