You said — “There can be no “inertia” without force. The “bump”, which is not mentioned in the article, was apparently the “force” I inquired about. Thank you.”
It wouldn’t have to be a bump. The “force” was applied when their ship went into orbit. It had already been applied long before the bag was lost. And furthermore, as the astronaut was maneuvering into place to get to work, there was “force” applied — but that was force for the entire operation, itself — *including* the astronaut. So, it’s not *anything separate* from what the force was that was applied to the shuttle upon launching and/or the force that was applied to the astronaut to maneuver into position.
SO..., the “state of inertia” for the bag was applied (1) at the launch of the shuttle from land, and (2) at the launch of the astronaut outside the shuttle — but those were forces *applied to a large group of objects, all at once and *not* only to the bag, itself...
And so..., *no further force* would necessarily have to be applied — if simply — one were to “let go” (*without any applied force to the bag itself, but to the *entire astronaut* — only) — and then *without any additional force* being applied — the bag would float away....
So, you see — *no additional force* is needed for the bag to float away...
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Another simple way to see that *no force* need to be applied to the bag to lose it — is that the bag and astronaut are moving together — and all of a sudden you *apply force* to the astronaut to change direction or stop relative to the shuttle. BUT, you *do not apply force* to the bag — the result is the the bag floats away without having any additional force applied to it (while only force was applied to the astronaut — *alone*....
It’s *easy* to happen *without* any additional force being applied...
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Another simple explanation to let you see that *no force* (to the bag, itself) is necessary to lose the bag and have it float away from you. Here’s a potential scenario...
Astronaut and bag (and other gear) go outside the shuttle. Astronaut needs to move (i.e., float) over to another position about 30 feet away to work on some object. Astronaut, bag and other materials are all moving together, very gradually (and floating) over to the object, about thirty feet away. Something distracts the astronaut and hand is removed from holding the bag, while astronaut reaches for something else, and then, all of a sudden, astronaut notices he (she) is moving too fast and needs to slow down, so he does. But, astronaut has not grabbed a hold of the bag, again, which was moving at the same speed as the astronaut. But, the astronaut has now slowed down and the bag keeps moving at the same speed it was moving before (*no additional force applied*!!). Bag is lost in space...
Bag can be said to be “dropped” because as it is “in orbit” — it is *continuously dropping* towards the earth (which is what an “orbit” is...)...
EVENTUALLY, as the bag *continues falling* (as it was from the beginning), it will finally “get to earth” (finish it’s falling...).
Easy!!
That statement and many others you make are incorrect on so many levels and so often contradicted that you have become obtuse and not worthy of further discussion.