Question

If the pitched ball was traveling 77 mph before stanton's bat hit it and 120 mph after his bat hit it, by what amount did the speed of stanton's bat decrease due to the collision? (give your response as a positive value in units of miles per hour. assume that the bat and ball are moving in a single dimension. a baseball has a weight of 5 ounces and the bat stanton uses has a weight of 32 ounces.)

Answer 1

here we will use the concept of Newton's III law

as per Newton's III law the impulse given to the ball is same as the impulse lost by the bat

So here we will say

impulse gain by the ball = impulse lost by the bat

$m_1(v_f - v_i) = m_2(\Delta v)$

given that

$m_1 = 5 ounce$

$m_2 = 32 ounce$

For ball the change in speed will be

$v_f - v_i = (120 - 77)mph$

now from above equation

$5\times (120 - 77) = 32 \times \Delta v$

$\Delta v = 6.72 mph$

so speed of bat will decrease by 6.72 mph