4 ms·

If I recall, the object they were tethered too was rotating. So it would be centrifugal force.

by GlennS 13y ago

jessaustin 13y ago
It's been some time since I've seen it, so you may be right. However, the situation you describe would only obtain once the entire system was rotating. As I recall, the female astronaut grabbed onto the object and the tether immediately stretched out tight, with no time to impart angular momentum to the tether or to the male astronaut. In that situation, I would expect the tether to wind around the object somewhat in the interim before the male came loose, and in that case he would have been imparted with some lateral momentum that would have taken him past the object (although not necessarily within retrieval distance) rather than straight away from it as I dimly recall from the film.
afterburner 13y ago
It was not in any way portrayed as rotating. In fact Sandra's character seemed to be moving away from the ISS at a snail's pace. Furthermore, she was neither accelerating nor decelerating. It was poorly portrayed, that's why there is disagreement. As portrayed visually, it doesn't make sense. This was done I assume to stretch out the dramatic moment of decision so they could have an actual conversation about it. Even then that could have been achieved simply by having the conversation happen while the two were moving away from the ISS much faster. EDIT: Go to the movie with this exact shot to see what I mean: http://www.spaceanswers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Gravity-online-tether-death.jpg http://www.spaceanswers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Gravi... (from this article: http://www.spaceanswers.com/space-exploration/3802/16-things-gravity-got-wrong-and-some-things-it-got-right-too/ http://www.spaceanswers.com/space-exploration/3802/16-things... )
- jessaustin 13y ago
  Hahaha looking at the picture I realize there is no way the "object", let alone the tether and astronaut, could be rotating fast enough to create such a force.

If I recall, the object they were tethered too was rotating. So it would be centrifugal force.

by GlennS 13y ago

If I recall, the object they were tethered too was rotating. So it would be centrifugal force.

It's been some time since I've seen it, so you may be right. However, the situation you describe would only obtain once the entire system was rotating. As I recall, the female astronaut grabbed onto the object and the tether immediately stretched out tight, with no time to impart angular momentum to the tether or to the male astronaut. In that situation, I would expect the tether to wind around the object somewhat in the interim before the male came loose, and in that case he would have been imparted with some lateral momentum that would have taken him past the object (although not necessarily within retrieval distance) rather than straight away from it as I dimly recall from the film.

afterburner 13y ago

It was not in any way portrayed as rotating. In fact Sandra's character seemed to be moving away from the ISS at a snail's pace. Furthermore, she was neither accelerating nor decelerating. It was poorly portrayed, that's why there is disagreement. As portrayed visually, it doesn't make sense. This was done I assume to stretch out the dramatic moment of decision so they could have an actual conversation about it. Even then that could have been achieved simply by having the conversation happen while the two were moving away from the ISS much faster. EDIT: Go to the movie with this exact shot to see what I mean: http://www.spaceanswers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Gravity-online-tether-death.jpg http://www.spaceanswers.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Gravi... (from this article: http://www.spaceanswers.com/space-exploration/3802/16-things-gravity-got-wrong-and-some-things-it-got-right-too/ http://www.spaceanswers.com/space-exploration/3802/16-things... )

jessaustin 13y ago
Hahaha looking at the picture I realize there is no way the "object", let alone the tether and astronaut, could be rotating fast enough to create such a force.