Conservation of Momentum on the ISS

“Conservation of Momentum” is one of those laws we ask our students to believe in. Sure, we try to demonstrate it using air tracks and stuff, but the numbers never really add up. This video shows space tourist Richard Garriott trying to demonstrate conservation of momentum aboard the ISS – it’s not entirely convincing, because there are no measurements / data, but it looks much more impressive than an air track and he adds a little explanation of how the law applies to the practicalities of life aboard the space station.

If anyone reading this has a spare few million quid, I would LOVE to go up to the ISS and make a few demo films…

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