Question

Which of the following statements is FALSE about collisions? (Consider Newton's Laws an the Conservation of Momentum.)

Answer 1

The following statements are false about collisions:

• The velocity change of two respective objects involved in a collision will always be equal.
• Total momentum is always conserved between any two objects involved in a collision.

Answer: Option B, and D

Explanation:

In any collisions, equal amount of net force will be acted upon the colliding objects due to the third law of Newton, irrespective of the significance difference in mass of the objects. Similarly, they can also have different acceleration values during collision of two objects if the masses are identical.

But the statements regarding the equal change in velocity of two objects respectively involved in collision always is false, as the conservation of momentum is applicable for isolated system only. So it is true for only isolated system and not in all the systems.

The same reason goes for falsifying the fourth statement which states that total momentum is always conserved between two objects involved in a collision as this statement is only true for isolated system where the conservation of momentum can be applied. Thus the second and fourth statement is false regarding collision.