• Question: if it was possible, what do you think would happen if somebody fell in space?and where do you think they would go?

    Asked by ld144 to David, Paul on 23 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Paul Higgins

      Paul Higgins answered on 23 Nov 2012:

      I assume you would be falling out of a spaceship or something. According to newton’s laws, if no forces act on you, you will just keep going the speed you started at- forever in the same direction. So if you were in a “void” away from any stars or galaxies, gravity would be very weak. So if you jumped out of a space ship at 5 miles per hour. You would go 5 miles per hour in the direction you jumped at forever and ever. If you were in a space suit, robots that have taken over the universe might find your body still drifting in space a million years later.
      If you jumped out of a space ship near a planet, you would fall into orbit, and go around and around. If you jumped out straight at a planet with an atmosphere, you would fall faster and faster, until you hit the atmosphere- you could end up going fast enough that the friction between you and the air would heat you up, and you would become a “shooting star” and burn up in the atmosphere.

    • Photo: David McKeown

      David McKeown answered on 23 Nov 2012:

      It is quite hard to fall in space, because there is no gravity to make you fall, or ground to hit. If something did tip you over. If it was a force at your centre of mass (somewhere near your belly button), you would shoot of in the direction of the push, never to return. If you were pushed somewhere that was not your centre of mass (say in your head) you would get a torque also that would cause you to spin you around as well. “Twirling, twirling, always twirling towards freedom”

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