A rubber ball and a lump of putty have equal mass. They are thrown with equal speed against a wall. The ball bounces back with nearly the same speed with which it hit. The putty sticks to the wall. Which objects experiences the greater momentum change?

Respuesta :

Answer:

The rubber ball

Explanation:

In order to understand this, let's begin with the fact that momentum it's a vector quantity that has mass, sense, direction and a numerical value.

Now, we have the ball and the putty, in both hands. Both of them, has the same mass, let's say they have a mass of 20 g each.

In this point, you throw both balls against the wall, and they have a speed of 10 m/s (I'm assuming these values); from the moment that you let go the balls, they are both have a momentum, and as they have the same speed and mass, the momentum it's the same for both of them.

Now, they hit the wall. The putty sticked to the wall, so it's movement finished. At this point it's momentum becomes zero. Even though it still has mass, but it's not moving, so momentum equals zero here. However, inthe ball bounces back to you, at this point, the ball even with a reduced speed, it still has a momentum, so, it's greater than the one that the putty has because it becomes zero. Therefore, the ball has a greater change in momentum.