In media you’ll occasionally see someone stranded in freefall in space use a gun, or fire extinguisher, or thrown object, or something to try to alter their trajectory. Hell, pop a bottle of champagne and rechristen the ship!
Would this actually work though? I know you don’t have to deal with friction, but would these tiny amounts of thrust be enough to significantly effect a much more massive object?
Will firing a 125 gram 9mm round have a noticeable effect on a 80,000 gram astronaut drifting away from his ship?
It seems hard to believe,but then I’ve heard of stuff like solar sails which can apparently move an entire ship using just photons? So I don’t know.
In: 9
The short version is that your intuition of motion developed entirely on or very near Earth’s surface with atmosphere.
A 125 *grain* (not gram) 9mm still produces recoil. It’s not huge in the grand scheme of small arms, but a shooter on Earth resists that with their muscles and it goes into the ground via friction with whatever parts of the body are in contact.
If you’re on ice skates and someone on solid floor pushes against your hands, what happens?
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