Communists on the moon !

[Suicide Junkie]

Originally posted by geoschmo:

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Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
Assuming everything stays inside the station, the center of mass will remain in a consistent position.

No, I don't think this is right either. Loser is right when he says there will be some reaction to people walking around the inside of the station. As they exert force against the deck plates to go in one direction the station will have an equal reaction in the opposite direction. I just think he's way over estimating the amount the reaction will affect the station. The difference in mass between the person and the station means that almost all the energy moves the person and almost none of it moves the station. So while there will be a force applied to the station it would be imperceptable I believe.

Geoschmo

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Ah, but they can only keep going in that direction for so long before they hit the far wall.

Then you cancel out the velocity you and the station had while you were on your trip.

The biggest effect you could get is if everybody ran from one side to the other all at once. (Much faster than a rotation of the station, for simplicity.)
If the station's mass is 100 times what the people total, then the people moving 100m would cause the station to move 1m in the other direction, and the center of mass (people + station) would still be in the same spot (right smack dab on the L-point where it started)