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The gravitational force of earth acts in...

The gravitational force of earth acts in the space also till some certain distance from its surface. Then why does an astronaut in an international space station feel weightlessness and floats inside the station ?

Text Solution

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(i) in space , the only force that acts on a spacecraft is the gravitational force of the earth . Therefore , the spacecraft is in a state of free fall.
(ii) The velocity in free fall is independent of the properties of an object and thus is the same for the spacecraft, the travellers and the objects in the space craft.
(iii) The free fall leads to weightlessness of space travellers as well as object in the spacecraft.
Being weightless, space travellers as well as objects in the spacecraft appear to be floating .
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