Superman meets an astroid in outer space and hurls it 800m/s. The astroid is 1000x more massive than him.?

Superman is at rest after the throw. Taking physics into acct, what would be his recoil velocity?


Please explain to me how u came up with this answer....I really need to understand it.

like the previous writer said, 800,000 m/s.
The way you can understand this is to know that momentum in conserved thus: (where a = asteroid, s = superman)
MaVa + MsVs = 0
so Vs = -MaVa/Ms = -1000Va = -1000(800 m/s) = -800,000 m/s.
That is, 800,000 m/s in the direction opposite the asteroid.

Casey - things are weightless in space, but they still have mass.

His recoil velocity would be zero because he's a fictional character with superpowers. And no, that's not entirely meant as a snotty response. :-)

Larry Niven wrote a hilarious short story/article on the subject of applying the laws of physics to Superman, called "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex." Because the Web is so wonderful, it can be found on line, at the URL in the Sources field.

Enjoy!

Wouldnt it be equal because everything in space is weightless anyway.

If superman is at rest BEFORE the throw, he will recoil at 800 000 m/s

because he has given the asteroid 800 000 (unit of mass)m/s of momentum. If he has 1000 times less momentum, he will recoil at one thousand times the speed.

The original readers of Superman Comics, as well as the other ones were little kids no older that about 12. The writers realized that with that audience, they could take huge leaps of logic and ignore basic physical llaws with relative impunity. Superman, in the run of the comics, has been shrugging off physics since 1938, and has managed to dodge around questions like yours. The bottom line is, it's the super hero biz. If you look sharp, Batman and Wonder Woman, and many other super heroes have no problem with Newton's :Laws, or many other scientific precepts. I guess all of us grown up children will just have to suspend or imaginations like the 10 and 12 year olds. B.

ok

The mass of Superman = Ms
The mass of the Asteroid = Ma

Initial Velocity of superman = Vis
Final velocity of superman = Vfs

Initial Velocity of the Asteroid = Via
Final Velocity of the Asteroid = Vsa

Then:

Ms. Vis + Ma. Via = Ms.Vfs + Ma.Vfa

Of course this can be separated in x,y,z, coordinates in case the trayectories are at an angle. this is if both superman and the asteroid are moving before the collision