Does a Collision in Space Affect a Spaceship's Center of Mass Motion?

  • Level: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Count Iblis
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Physics Physics forums
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
1 reply · 2K views
Count Iblis
Messages
1,859
Reaction score
8
An object of mass m collides with a spaceship of mass M that is freely floating in intergalactic space. The mass was moving with a speed of v relative to the spacecraft and after the collision it sticks to the spaceship.

Estimate the probability that the collision won't affect the spaceship's center of mass motion at all.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org