Is there ever a situation where an ant will have more momentum than an elephant? Explain why or why not?
1 answer:
Answer:
Yes
Explanation:
The momentum of an object is given by:
where
m is the mass of the object
v is the velocity of the object
We know that an elephant has a mass much larger than the mass of an ant. However, we see that the momentum of the animal also depends on its velocity.
If the elephant is at rest, its velocity is zero:
v = 0
so its momentum is also zero:
p = 0
And therefore, an ant which is moving (so, non-zero speed) can have more momentum than an elephant, if the elephant is at rest.
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The cart is moving by simple harmonic motion, and its position at time t is described by
where
A is the amplitude of the oscillation
is the angular frequency
The amplitude of the oscillation corresponds to the maximum displacement of the spring, which corresponds to the initial position where the spring was released:
A=0.250 m
The period of the motion is T=5.67 s, and the angular frequency is related to the period by
Therefore now we can calculate the position of the system at the time t=29.6 s:
where
A is the amplitude of the oscillation
The amplitude of the oscillation corresponds to the maximum displacement of the spring, which corresponds to the initial position where the spring was released:
A=0.250 m
The period of the motion is T=5.67 s, and the angular frequency is related to the period by
Therefore now we can calculate the position of the system at the time t=29.6 s: