Answer:
According to the law of conservation of momentum:
Momentum of the car and insect system before collision = Momentum of the car and insect
system after collision
Hence, the change in momentum of the car and insect system is zero.
The insect gets stuck on the windscreen. This means that the direction of the insect is
reversed. As a result, the velocity of the insect changes to a great amount. On the other hand,
the car continues moving with a constant velocity. Hence, Kiran’s suggestion that the insect
suffers a greater change in momentum as compared to the car is correct. The momentum of
the insect after collision becomes very high because the car is moving at a high speed.
Therefore, the momentum gained by the insect is equal to the momentum lost by the car.
Akhtar made a correct conclusion because the mass of the car is very large as compared to
the mass of the insect.
Rahul gave a correct explanation as both the car and the insect experienced equal forces
caused by the Newton’s action-reaction law. But, he made an incorrect statement as the
system suffers a change in momentum because the momentum before the collision is equal to
the momentum after the collision.
