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A professor of physics is going ice skating for the first time. He has gotten himself into the middle of an ice rink and cannot figure out how to make the skates work. Every motion he makes simply slips on the ice and leaves him in the same place he started. He decides that he can get off the ice by throwing his gloves in the opposite direction.

1. Suppose he has a mass M and his gloves have a mass m. If he throws them as hard as he can away from him, and they leave his hand with a velocity v. Explain whether or not he will move. If he does move, calculate his velocity, V.
2. Discuss his motion from the point of view of the forces acting on him.
3. If the ice rink is 10 m in diameter and the skater starts in the center, estimate how long it will take him to reach the edge, assuming there is no friction at all.

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Page last modified October 9, 2002: P&E07