Question

During a neighborhood baseball game in a vacant lot, a particularly wild hit sends a 0.148 kg baseball crashing through the pane of a second-floor window in a nearby building. The ball strikes the glass at 14.5 m/s , shatters the glass as it passes through, and leaves the window at 11.5 m/s with no change of direction.
What is the direction of the impulse that the glass imparts to the baseball? Calculate the magnitude of this impulse (a positive number)?

Answer 1

Explanation:

Mass of baseball, m = 0.148 kg

Initial speed of the ball, u = 14.5 m/s

Final speed of the ball, v = 11.5 m/s

After crashing through the pane of a second-floor window, the ball shatters the glass as it passes through, and leaves the window at 11.5 m/s with no change of direction. So, the direction of the impulse that the glass imparts to the baseball is in opposite direction to the direction of the balls path.

The change in momentum of the ball is called impulse. It is given by :

$J=m(v-u)\\\\J=0.148\times (11.5-14.5) \\\\J=-0.444\ kg-m/s\\\\|J|=0.444\ kg-m/s$

Hence, this is the required solution.