Question

A mosquito and a truck have a head-on collision. Which has a larger change of momentum?

Answer 1

Answer:

C. They have the same change of momentum.

Explanation:

Let "m" be the mass and "v" the velocity.

According to the property of conservation of momentum, when objects 1 and 2 collide:

$m_{a}v_{ai} + m_{b}v_{bi} = m_{a}v_{afinal} + m_{b}v_{bfinal}\\m_{b}v_{bfinal} - m_{b}v_{bi} = m_{a}v_{ai} - m_{a}v_{afinal}\\\Delta (m_{b}v_{b}) = -\Delta (m_{a}v_{a})$

Therefore, one can conclude that the change in momentum (Δ(mv)) has the same magnitude but opposite sign for any two objects regardless of how much heavier one might be than the other.

They have the same change of momentum.