An astronaut accidentally gets separated out of his small spaceship accelerating in inter stellar space at a constant rate of 100 m s-2.

What is the acceleration of the astronaut the instant after he is outside the spaceship?

(Assume that there are no nearby stars to exert gravitational force on him.)


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1. Assuming absence of stars in the vicinity, the only gravitational force exerted on astronaut is by the spaceship.

2. But this force is negligible.

3. Hence, once astronaut is out of the spaceship net external force acting on him can be taken as zero.

4. From the first law of motion, the acceleration of astronaut is zero.