Question

In space, astronauts don’t have gravity to keep them in place. That makes doing even simple tasks difficult. Gene Cernan was the first astronaut who worked on a task outside a spaceship. He said of the experience, “Every time I’d push or turn a valve, it would turn my entire body at zero gravity. I had nothing to hold on to.” As he worked, Gene Cernan’s heart rate and temperature went so high that his fellow astronauts worried that he wouldn’t survive.
Think about routine tasks that astronauts might need to do inside and outside a spaceship. Choose several tasks, and describe the features the ship and spacesuits should have to account for zero gravity as the astronaut completes the task. Use Newton’s laws of motion in your analysis.

Answer 1

Answer:

Newton's laws are:

-Newton's First Law: A body will remain at rest or in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by a force.

-Newton's Second Law: Change in motion is proportional to the applied force and parallel to it.

-Newton's Third Law: To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Then, some of the tasks that may be problematic are:

Doing exercise, the fact that there is no gravity means that you can not lift the weight, and also when you want to use your own body as a machine (like calisthenic) it also does not weight anything, so doing exercise is problematic. They use running machines and are fixed in place by some ropes.

Working outside the spaceship may be really dangerous, because once you have some velocity in some direction, by the first law, you will keep moving in that direction, so you need something that does a force in order to "move" in outer space. Some space suits have little propulsors in the hands that help the astronauts to manipulate in the outer space.

Turning valves or screws, because of the third law, when you turn a valve the valve does the same force in you, normally in the Earth, you have weight, which keeps you in place, but in the space the case is different, so when you turn the valve, the valve does the same force against you that will make you start to rotate. Spaceships usually have some handles near to help the astronauts to keep their position.

Answer 2

Newton's First Law: A body will remain at rest or in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by a force.

Newton's Second Law: Change in motion is proportional to the applied force and parallel to it.

Newton's Third Law: To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Things that would be hard to do in orbit are.

-turning a valve

-walking around

-trying to shower

-sitting still