A rubber ball and a lump of clay have equal mass. They are thrown with equal speed against a wall. The ball bounces back with ne
1 answer:
Answer:
The ball experiences the greater momentum change
Explanation:
The momentum change of each object is given by:
where
m is the mass of the object
v is the final velocity
u is the initial velocity
Both objects have same mass m and same initial velocity u. So we have:
- For the ball, the final velocity is
Since it bounces back (so, opposite direction --> negative sign) with same speed (so, the magnitude of the final velocity is still u). So the change in momentum is
- For the clay, the final velocity is
since it sticks to the wall. So, the change in momentum is
So we see that the greater momentum change (in magnitude) is experienced by the ball.
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(a)
The total mechanical energy of the space probe must be constant, so we can write:
(1)
where
is the kinetic energy at the surface, when the probe is launched
is the gravitational potential energy at the surface
is the final kinetic energy of the probe
is the final gravitational potential energy
Here we have
at the surface, (radius of the planet),
(mass of the planet) and m=10 kg (mass of the probe), so the initial gravitational potential energy is
At the final point, the distance of the probe from the centre of Zero is
so the final potential energy is
So now we can use eq.(1) to find the final kinetic energy:
(b)
The probe reaches a maximum distance of
which means that at that point, the kinetic energy is zero: (the probe speed has become zero):
At that point, the gravitational potential energy is
So now we can use eq.(1) to find the initial kinetic energy: