Exploring Newton's Laws During Astronaut Spacewalks - Physics Module

This homework assignment explores the application of Newton's three laws of motion to astronauts conducting spacewalks. It discusses how these fundamental principles of physics manifest in a microgravity environment when astronauts undertake tasks such as removing and replacing large satellite components. The first law addresses how objects, including those handled by astronauts, remain stationary or move at constant velocity unless acted upon by external forces. This principle is crucial for handling equipment in space where there are no gravitational forces to anchor them. Newton's second law is examined through the lens of how force must be applied to change an astronaut's velocity; movements must be carefully controlled due to lack of friction and gravity. Finally, the third law's action-reaction pairs are discussed concerning the risks of unintended movement when astronauts exert force on objects or their surroundings. The assignment emphasizes that while Newton's laws hold true in space, the absence of Earth-like gravitational forces alters how these principles are experienced by astronauts.

Running head: SPACE WALK 1
Spacewalk
Name
Institution Affiliation

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INTRODUCTION
A spacewalk also known as an extravehicular activity refers to the phenomenon where
astronauts get out of a vehicle in space. Astronauts do spacewalk because of various reasons such
as to carry out experiment in space, to test new equipment and to repair or do routine
maintenance on space equipment. This paper discusses the challenges experienced by astronauts
in spacewalk to remove and replace a massive satellite component in relation to the three
Newton’s laws of motion. The astronaut should always be careful considering the fact that the
space conditions are not similar to the normal atmospheric conditions (James, 2013).
Motion has been a topic of interest among scientists, researchers and philosophers.
Aristotle, Galileo and Isaac Newton are the key individuals whose ideas helped to shape people’s
perspective on motion. Newton’s Laws of motion have been proved and accepted and applied
by most people (Kuehn, 2015). Isaac Newton came up with 3 basic laws that describe motion.
Newton’s first law of motion states that an object remains at rest or uniform motion in a straight
line unless acted upon by an external force. The second law talks about acceleration it states that
the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the magnitude of the resultant force and
inversely proportional to the mass of the object and in the same direction as the resultant force.
The third law states that for every action, there is an equal reaction force acting in the opposite
direction. These three laws have been used to explain various day to day phenomenon spacewalk
being one of them.
The Newton’s first law of motion is the principle that keeps planets orbiting round the
sun .In the weightlessness space this law is clearly exhibited and the astronaut must be careful.
For instance, if the large component being fixed is put down, the object will float out of reach

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obeying Newton’s first law (Peter, 2014). Therefore the astronauts have to use Velcro traps to
keep themselves and objects in place.
According to Newton’s second law, force must be used to accelerate or decelerate a body.
The astronaut has to push themselves carefully to avoid floating around (Kuehn, 2015). They
also should also stop themselves while on motion or they will continue moving unless they hit an
obstacle. This should be behind their minds as unbolt and fix the large satellite component.
Newton’s third law describes the concept of action and reaction forces and has a significant
effect to astronauts in spacewalk. When screwing a component they should anchor themselves
against a wall or else they will also twist instead (Brosing., 2014). Any little action produces a
significant reaction force that could send the astronaut floating in space. To avoid this, the
astronauts are provided with restrictive loops to anchor their feet.
In conclusion, the laws of motion on earth apply similarly on earth and in space.
However, the effects of earth’s gravitational forces mask the precise effects of these laws. The
different gravitational effect in space is the sole reason for difference in the manifestations of
these laws. Due weightlessness, flames in the space is a blue sphere instead of flickering column
as on earth and therefore a fire breakout in space poses great risks to the astronauts.
Reference
Brosing., G. a. (2014). The physics of everyday phenomena. Newyork: McGrawHill.
James. (2013). Newton Laws of motion . Hull: Springer .

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Kuehn. (2015). Newtons Laws of Motion. New York: Newyork Press.
Peter, Y. (2014). Leapfrog method and other symplectic algorithms for intergrating Newton's laws of
motion. California: Califonia Press.