Boomerang in space ?

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killivolt

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(I just herd on the radio) a Boomerang in space thrown by an Astronaut then comes back to him ?
Can anyone explain this when it's a vacuum. Or are there some residual gases that it can act against ?



Thank you in advance, kv
 
Is this hypothetical? Because I don't think the astronauts would throw anything in space since it makes space junk (and sends them flying in the opposite direction).

But even then...I personally didn't think it would return since there's no air and a boomerang works a bit like a wing. Could it have something to do with precession?
 
It depends.

If it was inside a space shuttle then yes, it would come back to him, as it's filled with air.

If it was outside in space then it wouldn't, since the aerodynamics wouldn't work as there's no air.
 
Sure, but he didn't say at what speed. Maybe he threw it at something less than the escape velocity from a very fat astronaut?

John
 
dknguyen said:
Is this hypothetical?

Just someone making a comment on the radio saying

QUOTE = He did it and it did come back ?

Outside or Inside they didn't say.
Click to expand...
 
A second thought. I suspect if the astronaut was in orbit and threw it at exactly the right angle, it would fall back to him/her.

Edit: So, he was inside in an atmosphere.
 
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According to the article, it was inside the International Space Station which is pressurised.

What surprises me is that he's 53. I didn't know they sent people over 40 odd up there.
 
It was his boomerang and if they didn't let him throw it, he would take it and go home. Besides people are fatter after 40.
 
If you were in space and threw anything, boomerang, spanner, feather etc, at 90° to your direction of travel then you will meet it again on the other side of the earth. As both you and the object are doing great circles your paths will cross twice per orbit.

Mike.
 
As both you and the object are doing great circles your paths will cross twice per orbit.
Click to expand...
If the object has the same mass as you, and your initial velocity is 0. If it has a much lower mass, it will do many orbits and pass you several times before you do one. Thrown at a tangent to your orbit, I would also expect the radius of the object's orbit to consequently become somewhat greater than the thrower's own orbit.

If you were in space and threw anything, boomerang, spanner, feather etc, at 90° to your direction of travel then you will meet it again on the other side of the earth.
Click to expand...
I presume you mean 180 degrees (by the way, how do make the degree symbol?)? Thrown at 90 degrees and a tangent to the orbit, and given the variables related to momentum I've already mentioned, it's most likely that the orbits of the object and the thrower will never simultaneously intersect.
 
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Are you Windows? Do you hold the ALT key while hitting the 0176 on the keypad? The ° should appear when you release the alt key. John
 
The key sequence should work. If not then you can use character map under accessories/system tools.

No, I didn't mean 180°, I meant throw it sideways. By throwing it sideways you effectively give it an orbit that is a fraction of a degree different from yours and so your paths will cross twice per orbit. Alternatively, think what would happen if you threw it vertically away from the earth, this causes the object to follow an elliptical orbit that will cross yours twice per revolution.

Mike.
 
Copy and paste work, but the other instructions in the helpfile (with numlock on, type alt+0080) didn't seem to have any effect (other than a beep when the 0 is pressed).

What ever happened to the guys from 98°?

I posit that it's impossible to throw anything at exactly 90° in space.

I'm still not following Mike about what he means by throwing an object sideways. A few degrees off, or towards or against the direction of motion, or many degrees off, you ain't ever gonna see that object again. Hell, I can barely find half the stuff I throw into my garage.

Thinking more about throwing an object: it's impossible for a thrown object to have an orbit that exactly intersects the object from which it was thrown.
 
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Any two orbits that share a point in space must share the point that is on the opposite side of the earth due to the fact that they are both doing giant circles about the center of the earth. Think of two infinitely thin hula hoop, one inside the other.

This is much easier to visualise when something is thrown upward. As it gains height it looses speed until it starts to fall back to earth. As it looses height it gains speed and so the object oscillates about the original orbit. An example of this is Pluto which orbits both inside and outside Neptune's orbit.

Mike.
 
 
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