Weightless in the Space Station

Everyday life on earth occurs with a concept of an existence of gravity. We would not be able to technically walk in a non-gravity environment. Without the presence of weight, friction would not take place to allow us to move forward. The astronaut must use other techniques to move around the space station such as pushing against walls to move forward. By pushing the wall, there would be a force directed in the opposite direction. Astronauts would use the momentum built by the opposing force to move forward. Working at a space station would be an entirely different situation than working on earth.

Working at the Space Station

On earth, we would have the ability to walk, run, drive, and swim, and so on. Most of the activities we do here on earth cannot be conducted in a non-gravity environment. We time to time use gravity to our benefit, but in a non-gravity environment, there would always be a factor of floating. Working at the international space station, one of the first things they may realize is the floating objects in midair. Newton’s law of motion shows that the object without an external force acting upon it, the object would not move. The force of gravity that would be acting upon an object on earth would be 9.81 m/s2, in comparison the gravity that an astronaut would experience at an international space station would be nearly zero. There would be no force acting upon an object, and things would float in midair.

In an environment where the object does not drop to the ground and keep its force until an external force changes its momentum. Momentum would equal to mass times velocity, and a momentum would remain the same if not interrupted. Momentum is a vector quantity defined as the mass m of an object multiplied by its velocity, which an object with no velocity has no momentum. Mass and velocity are the byproducts of momentum. For an astronaut to move around in an international space station, they would need to push against the wall of the ship to move forward.

Reaching for a Handrail

As Newton’s third law of motion states that to every force interacted with another object, the force would reflect back. By pushing the walls way, the force applied to the wall would directly react back to the astronaut. For example, if an astronaut were to try to get on the space station from space and try to reach for any surface of the space station, the astronaut would always be pushed away from this effect. An astronaut would not able to hang on to hang on to a flat surface since they would be repelled away because of Newton’s third law of motion. Any small touch would reflect directly back as an opposite force so getting back on the ship without hanging on to something would be difficult.

Moving between compartments, working at the international space station, an astronaut come upon an ample space and the astronaut come to a complete stop in midair. What would the astronaut do to get himself back on track? There are several techniques that the astronaut can do to get back. One of the method that the astronaut can use is Newton’s third law of motion. It would be easy if you had equipment that would create enough force to repel the opposite force to travel forward.

The theory of momentum tells that as two objects collide with each other the total momentum of the object that collided with the other object would be transferred and the object that got hit would carry on the momentum. If the astronaut is with a partner, the astronaut can ask his partner to tackle him targeting straight to the direction that the astronaut want to go. Newton’s law of motion states that a change in motion is proportional to the motive force impressed and takes place along the straight line in which that force is impressed. (Machamer) Through this, the astronaut successfully would able to travel to the location he wants. The problem is that the force that is applied to the object would carry on with the full momentum and the object that has collided would lose momentum. The solution to this problem would be, as the astronaut’s partner tackle the astronaut the two astronauts would need to stick together to travel together to the same direction. The force of the momentum that the astronauts would have moving together would be half of the momentum, but it would do the job.

Conclusion

The existence of gravity is always persistent on our planet but out in the international space station is another question. Experiencing gravity with nothing to hang on to would be another experience as well. We now know that we would not be able to technically walk in a non-gravity environment. The problem with an environment with no gravity is that you might just float away if you are not careful enough and you might come to a stop where there is merely nothing around. If possible try to reach any surface around to push towards you want to go. Another solution is to get a partner to help your way out together. By using the force of momentum, astronauts would be able to manage to move around in the international space station.

References

Machamer, P., McGuire, J. E., & Kochiras, H. Newton and the mechanical philosophy: Gravitation as the balance of the heavens. Southern Journal of Philosophy, 50(3), 370-388.

doi:10.1111/j.2041-6962.2012.00128.x

Newton’s Law of Motion. Greenwood Village, CO.

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