An astronaut in her space suit has a mass of 87.0 kg. her tether loses its attachment to her spacecraft while she is on a spacewalk. initially at rest (with respect to her spacecraft) she throws her oxygen tank, which has a mass of 12.0 kg, away from her spacecraft with a speed of 8.00 m/s to propel her back towards it. (a) determine the maximum distance she can be from the craft and still return withn 2.00 min( the amount of time the air in her helmet remains breathable). (b) explain in terms of newton's laws of motion why this strategy works.

what is the speed of a softball that travels 20m in 2secs

speed = 20/2 = 10 m/s

force is based upon mass and acceleration.the statement is not always true.

it can be explained from newton's second law of motion.

as per newton's second law of motion the rate of change of momentum is directly proportional to the applied force and takes place along the direction of force.

mathematically it can be written as -

                                              ⇒      

here   k is the proportionality constant whose value is 1.

                                                            [a is the acceleration=dv/dt]

hence we see that force not only depends on mass and acceleration but also on velocity and rate of change of mass. force f will depend on mass and acceleration only when mass is constant.

hence the statement that force is based upon mass and acceleration is false.

explanation:

wheres the pic