Consider the following two cases of a ball with initial speed v hitting a wall.
ID: 1752985 • Letter: C
Question
Consider the following two cases of a ball with initial speedv hitting a wall. In case i, when the ball hits the wallit comes to a complete stop. In case ii, when the ball hits thewall it moves in the opposite direction with exactly the same speedv as it had originally. In which case did the ball sufferthe largest change in momentum? 1) case 1 2) case 2 3) the change in momentum is the same Consider the following two cases of a ball with initial speedv hitting a wall. In case i, when the ball hits the wallit comes to a complete stop. In case ii, when the ball hits thewall it moves in the opposite direction with exactly the same speedv as it had originally. In which case did the ball sufferthe largest change in momentum? 1) case 1 2) case 2 3) the change in momentum is the sameExplanation / Answer
According to Newton's second law,the rate of change of the momentum of a particle is proportional tothe resultant force acting on the particle and is in the directionof that force. So in case 2, If the velocity is taken into account then the CHANGEis from some value to the same value with a negative sign. So thechange is double the actual modulus (absolute value) of momentum.In case 1, all momentum is lost (converted into energy) Hope this is clear ... of course if you are talking absolute value,the momentum change is greatest in case 1.