Question

A tennis ball of mass m=0.060 kg and speed v=25 m/s strikes a wall at a 45 angle and rebounds with the same velocity at 45°. What is the impulse given to the ball?

Answer 1

To solve this problem we will apply the concepts related to the Impulse which can be defined as the product between mass and the total change in velocity. That is to say

$p = m\Delta v$

Here,

m = mass

$\Delta v =$ Change in velocity

As we can see there are two types of velocity at the moment the object makes the impact,

the first would be the initial velocity perpendicular to the wall and the final velocity perpendicular to the wall.

That is to say,

$v_i = vcos\theta$

$v_f = -v sin\theta$

El angulo dado es de 45° y la velocidad de 25, por tanto

$v_i = (25)cos(45) = 17.68m/s$

$v_f = -(25)sin(45) = -17.68m/s$

The change of sign indicates a change in the direction of the object.

Therefore the impulse would be as

$p = 0.060(-17.68-17.68)$

$p = -2.12kg \cdot m/s$

The negative sign indicates that the pulse is in the opposite direction of the initial velocity.