If in space/micro-gravity, could you "lift" yourself in a bucket by the handle?

[glenn1]

As you know this is impossible on earth (unless you're Chuck Norris, in which case it's part of his daily exercise routine), such that it's become a cliche. But could you in micro-gravity? Day if you were in a bucket sitting at rest on a surface, could you launch yourself "up" in the direction away from the surface?

 

[lxskllr]

Isn't that jumping?

 

[Matthiasa]

Something about equal and opposite reactions applies here.

 

[arkcom]

Force up on bucket handle.
Force down on bucket bottom.

No.

 

[Greenman]

A good fart would do it.

 

[911paramedic]

Time to turn in your atot posting card for a week for asking a question like that. Just set it over there, lets do this on the honor system.

You realize that was right up there with, "If you were in a falling elevator and stepped out the open door just before it hit the ground floor, you would be fine right?"

 

[her209]

Newton's Third law: The mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear.

When you are pulling on the bucket handle, you are also pushing down on the bucket to generate that force.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

I don't understand. You are in a bucket? What?

 

[Ken g6]

Equivalent to pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Or:

 

[sandorski]

Only if you're on a Treadmill.

 

[her209]

Instead of of the human, put a gasoline-powered fan. The raft would actually move but not in the direction intended. Its like putting a propeller on a plane but it has a sail. You can use the sail for steering similar to a rudder.

 

[Specop 007]

Newton's Third law: The mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear.

When you are pulling on the bucket handle, you are also pushing down on the bucket to generate that force.

But what if you pick up your feet?

 

[IronWing]

But what if you pick up your feet?

You can raise your feet but your center of mass would stay in the same spot. You could piss to provide some thrust. You could wear dark clothes and be pushed by the sun.

 

[gorcorps]

Instead of of the human, put a gasoline-powered fan. The raft would actually move but not in the direction intended. Its like putting a propeller on a plane but it has a sail. You can use the sail for steering similar to a rudder.

I saw that on mythbusters.

IIRC the fan they were using pushed the boat backwards (similar to a swap boat) and the sail just slowed that down because of air resistance.

 

[Red Squirrel]

One thing I've always wondered about zero gravity, say you have something with moving parts. Let's keep things simple, and say a fan. What dictates which part actually moves. The fan itself, or the blades? Or do they move 50% one way and 50% the other way?

I'd be thinking mass has an effect, but at zero gravity, there's no such thing as mass. Or is there?

 

[Taejin]

As you know this is impossible on earth (unless you're Chuck Norris, in which case it's part of his daily exercise routine), such that it's become a cliche. But could you in micro-gravity? Day if you were in a bucket sitting at rest on a surface, could you launch yourself "up" in the direction away from the surface?

if u lift self enuff REACH SPEED OF LITE??

 

[IronWing]

One thing I've always wondered about zero gravity, say you have something with moving parts. Let's keep things simple, and say a fan. What dictates which part actually moves. The fan itself, or the blades? Or do they move 50% one way and 50% the other way?

I'd be thinking mass has an effect, but at zero gravity, there's no such thing as mass. Or is there?

There is mass but not weight. In the case of the fan the blades would spin in one direction and the body of the fan in the other at rates in proportion to their relative masses (weighted for mass distribution about their centers of mass). I can't think of the correct term, maybe angular momentum of the blades would equal that of the fan body.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

One thing I've always wondered about zero gravity, say you have something with moving parts. Let's keep things simple, and say a fan. What dictates which part actually moves. The fan itself, or the blades? Or do they move 50% one way and 50% the other way?

I'd be thinking mass has an effect, but at zero gravity, there's no such thing as mass. Or is there?

There is always mass, and yes, mass has something to do with it. Both the blades and the rest of the fan would move, but the blades would move much more due to their lower mass.

And its the same with or without gravity. If you are sitting on ice and you push a hockey puck next to you, both you and the puck will move, just that the puck will move a whole lot more due to its much lower mass.

 

[drebo]

I'd be thinking mass has an effect, but at zero gravity, there's no such thing as mass. Or is there?

There's still inertia, which has nothing to do with weight, and thus mass does play a factor in which side moves more.

So, yes, both sides (the fan blades and the fan base) would spin in proportion to their masses.

 

[brblx]

didn't mythbuster's do 'blow your own sail' (no, not that, pervs)? iirc it DOES work...just for stupid reasons. you basically just have to overpower the sail with thrust.

this is similar to this situation, solved in first post: cheat. jump as you pull on the bucket handle, and yes, you should float away....because you're only holding the bucket to your feet, not pressing against it. other than when you jump, in which the bucket is ideally just transferring energy to the ground.

SCIENCE: once again successfully used by ATOT for no reason.

 

[lehtv]

If you jump, while holding the bucket by the handle, then you will launch yourself up. Then the opposite force will not hold you down, but will push the ground away from you. Just lifting the handle isn't enough, because you don't create potential energy like you do when you prepare for a jump.

 

[Red Squirrel]

There is always mass, and yes, mass has something to do with it. Both the blades and the rest of the fan would move, but the blades would move much more due to their lower mass.

And its the same with or without gravity. If you are sitting on ice and you push a hockey puck next to you, both you and the puck will move, just that the puck will move a whole lot more due to its much lower mass.

Hmm yeah good point never really thought of that. So basically it's same effect. It's like if you hang an electric motor by it's cord and apply power, whatever is on the shaft, and the motor itself do move, until something stops the motor, which is the wire twisting itself.

 

[her209]

One thing I've always wondered about zero gravity, say you have something with moving parts. Let's keep things simple, and say a fan. What dictates which part actually moves. The fan itself, or the blades? Or do they move 50% one way and 50% the other way?

I'd be thinking mass has an effect, but at zero gravity, there's no such thing as mass. Or is there?

Assuming the fan is free floating, the spinning blades will cause the fan to spin in the opposite direction. Conservation of momentum I believe.

 

[Aluvus]

Assuming the fan is free floating, the spinning blades will cause the fan to spin in the opposite direction. Conservation of momentum I believe.

The same effect is observed in helicopters. It is why they (normally) have a perpendicular rotor on the tail. They can turn by increasing or decreasing the speed of the tail rotor.


@OP: Here is an experiment that you can try at home to test your theory. Find a smooth floor, with an adjacent wall. Cover the floor in a lubricant (I suggest Crisco). Lie on your back on the floor (in order to reduce friction, I suggest you do this naked), put your feet in a bucket, put the bucket against the wall. Pull on the handle. If someone walks in and asks what you are doing, tell them you are doing science.

 

[her209]

The same effect is observed in helicopters. It is why they (normally) have a perpendicular rotor on the tail. They can turn by increasing or decreasing the speed of the tail rotor.

True, but I think its also used to keep it stable instead of wobbling like a top that's about to topple.