Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site mordor.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!bellcore!decvax!mcnc!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!ut-sally!mordor!@S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC:PMR@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA From: @S1-A.ARPA,@MIT-MC:PMR@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA Newsgroups: net.space Subject: Stuck in Space Message-ID: <1654@mordor.UUCP> Date: Fri, 3-May-85 13:15:15 EDT Article-I.D.: mordor.1654 Posted: Fri May 3 13:15:15 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 6-May-85 01:22:31 EDT Sender: daemon@mordor.UUCP Lines: 16 From: Paul Roberts But how could you come to be in the middle of large zero-G room at no velocity ? Theoretically, by throwing out some mass in mid-flight (ie in such a way that it carried away all your momentum relative to the room). But in practice you would never get this exactly right; you'd be left with enough residual drift to carry you to a wall eventually. I recall one story (A.C. Clarke ?) in which someone found himself in such a predicament and used the only available reaction-mass: his shorts. At this point, a visiting Congressman's wife enters and our hero's career suffers a setback. Paul Roberts pmr@columbia-20 -------