Part A An astronaut is taking a space walk near the shuttle when her safety tether breaks. What should the astronaut do to get back to the shuttle? View Available Hint(s) O Attempt to "swim" toward the shuttle. O Take slow steps toward the shuttle @ Take a tool from her tool belt and throw it away from the shuttle. O Take the portion of the safety tether still attached to her belt and throw it toward the shuttle. Submit Previous Answers Correct As the astronaut throws the tool away from the shuttle, she exerts a force in the direction away from the shuttle. Then, by Newton's 3rd law, the tool will exert an opposite force on her. Thus, as she throws the tool, a force directed toward the shuttle will act on the astronaut. Newton's 2nd law stipulates that the astronaut would acquire an acceleration toward the shuttle. Part B Assuming that the astronaut can throw any tool with the same force, what tool should be thrown to get back to the shuttle as quickly as possible? You should consider how much mass is left behind as the object is thrown as well as the mass of the object itself. View Available Hint(s) The tool with the smallest mass. The tool with the largest mass. O Any tool, since the mass of the tool would make no difference. Submit Previous Answers Correct The force that acts on the astronaut must equal in magnitude the force that she exerts on the tool. Therefore, if she exerts the same force on any tool, the force acting on her will be independent of the mass of the tool. However, the acceleration that the astronaut would acquire is inversely proportional to her mass since she is acted upon by a constant force. If she throws the tool with the largest mass, the remaining mass (the astronaut plus her remaining tools) would be smallest-and the acceleration the greatest! Furthermore, it generally takes a longer time to throw a more massive tool. Therefore, for a given acceleration, this will result in a larger change in astronaut velocity since acceleration is change in velocity over time.Part C If the astronaut throws the tool with a force of 18.0 N . what is the magnitude of the acceleration a of the astronaut during the throw? Assume that the total mass of the astronaut after she throws the tool is 80.0 kg . Express your answer in meters per second squared. View Available Hint(s) Templates Symbols Undo redo reset keyboard shortcuts help m /82 Submit