LINEAR MOMENTUM

1. A 1.2 kg ball drops vertically onto a floor, hitting with a speed of 25 ms-1. It rebounds with a speed of 10ms-1.
(a) what impulse acts on the ball during the contact?
(b) If the ball is in contact with the floor for 0.020 s, what is the magnitude of the average force on the floor
from the ball?

2. There is a rifle attached to a trolley free to move on horizontal tracks. The mass of the trolley and the rifle is
50 kg. Find the velocity of the trolley after the rifle fires a bullet of mass 200 g
with a velocity of 240 m/s. If there is a constant friction of 100 N on the system,
how long would the trolley move?
3. There is a mass of 2 kg resting on a horizontal surface. Another mass of 1 kg moving with 2 ms-1; collide
with 2 kg mass. They were attached to each other after the collision. Find the velocity of the system after the
collision.

4. A wood-cutter trying to strip a log holds a wedge on the log and hit it with a hammer of 20 kg lifts the
hammer 1.5 m from the wedge and allows falling freely on the wedge. If the collision time is 0.1 s, find the
force applied on the wedge. (Imagine that the hammer doesn't bounce back)

5. A Toffee factory uses the following technique to measure the weight of their product in the production line.
Toffees are allowed to fall on a balance from a height of 20 cm at a rate of 5 toffees per second. If the mass of a
toffee is 25 g, find the reading of the balance after 10 s.

6. A wooden block A of mass 200g moving with 4 ms-1 on frictionless horizontal surface. It Head on collide
with another block B of mass 100 g which is moving with 6 ms-1. If they start moving as one object after the
collision, find the velocity of it.

7. There is a boat at rest on calm water. The length and the mass of the boat are 4 m and 225 kg respectively. A
child playing at the end B of the boat suddenly falls into water. His father at the other end A, starts to run at
constant velocity towards the end B. When he reach the end B however, the boat had moved back and the child
is away from the end B. Explain why the boat moves. If the mass of the man is 75 kg find the distance to the
child from the end B. (Neglect resistive force on the boat by water)

8. A bullet of mass 20g moving in horizontal direction with 200 ms-1, hit on a wooden block of mass 2 kg, hang
vertically by a cord of length 1 m. The bullet pierces 5 cm in the block. Find.
(I) the retardation force on the bullet.
(ii) The time that the bullet moves with respect to the block.
(ii) the angle that the block swings.

9. A bullet of mass 20g is fired horizontally into a suspended stationary wooden block of mass 380g with a
velocity of 200ms-1. What is the common velocity of the bullet and block if the bullet is embedded in (stays
inside) the block? If the block and bullet experience a constant opposing force of 2N, find the time taken by
them to come to rest.

R Salman BSc (Hons)

 10. A rain falls on a squire shaped roof inclined 300 to the horizontal. The length of a side of the roof is 5m.
Rate of water collected at end of the roof is found to be 3x10-3 m-3 per minute. Find the average pressure on the
roof, if the average velocity of rain drop is 4ms-1. Assume that the velocity of rain drops after being hit on roof
to be zero. (Density of water 1000 kgm-3)

11 A child playing with marbles hit a marble B on the floor which is in rest, by another marble A. The velocity
of A is horizontally 1ms-1. After the collision, the velocity of A is decreased by 50% and the direction is
changed by 600 with respect to initial direction. Find the direction and magnitude of the velocity of marble B, if
both A and B are identical in mass.

12. A coconut of mass 1kg is fallen from a tree of 10m high. It comes to rest in 0.2s after touching the ground.
Find the average impulse on the coconut.

13. The cross section of the nozzle used to service vehicles in a service station is 2.5cm2. Water passes through
the nozzle with 25cms-1. When a car is washed, find the force exerted on the wall of the car if water hit the wall
perpendicularly. Assume that water flows down along the wall gently after hitting the walls.

14. A ball of mass 0.05kg hit ground elastically with a velocity of 5ms-1 perpendicularly and rebounce with
same velocity.
(i) Find the change of momentum.
(ii) Find force on the ground if there are 40 such collisions per 10 seconds.
15. A 10kg boy standing on a 40kg flat boat so that he is 20m from the shore. He walks 8m on the boat towards
the shore and stops. Assuming that there is no friction between the boat and the water, how far is he from the
shore now?

16. The rate of fuel eject from a rocket is 100kgs-1 and the speed of ejected fuel is 5400kmh-1 with respect to the
rocket. Find the acceleration of the rocket when the mass of the rocket is 5000kg
17. A 20g bullet piers through a block of mass M1 = 1.0kg and then comes to rest
inside a second block of mass M2= 2.98kg as shown in the figure. It is found that
two blocks initially at rest are now moving equal velocities on the frictionless
surface. Find the percentage loss in the initial velocity of the bullet when it is
between M1 and M2. Neglect any loss of mass due to the action of the bullet.
18. A bomb of mass 10kg; initially at rest, explodes into two pieces of masses 4kg and 6kg. If the speed of the
4kg piece is 12ms-1, find the kinetic energy of the 6kg piece.
19. A shell is fired from a canon with a speed 10ms-1 an angle 300 with the horizontal. At the highest point in its
path it explodes into two pieces of equal masses. One of the pieces retraces its path to the canon. Find the
velocity of the other fragment immediately after the explosion.

20. A projectile of mass 50 kg is shot vertically upwards with an initial velocity of 100ms-1. After 5 seconds it
explodes into two fragments, one of which, having mass 20kg, travels vertically up with a velocity of 150ms-1,
(i) What is the velocity of the other fragment at that instant?

R Salman BSc (Hons)

 (ii) Calculate the sum of the momentum of the two fragments 3 seconds after the explosion. What would have
been the momentum of the projectile at this instant if there had been no explosion?
21. A bomb of mass 2kg, initially at rest, explodes into three fragments having masses in the ratio 1:1:3. The
two lighter fragments fly off at right angles to each other with a speed of 15ms-1 Find the velocity of the heavier
fragment.
22. A uniform wooden plank of mass 200kg and length 5m is floating on sill water with a man of mass 50kg at
one end of it. The man walks to the other end of the plank and sops. Assuming that there is no friction between
water and plank, find the distance moved by the man relative to water.
23. A rocket of initial mass 5000kg ejects gas at a constant rate of 15kg/s with a relative speed of 10 kms-1.
What is the acceleration of the rocket one minute after the blast? (Neglect gravity)
24. A 6000kg rocket is set for vertical firing. If the exhaust speed is 1000ms-1, how much gas must be ejected
per second to supply the thrust needed,
(i) to overcome the weight of the rocket
(ii) to give the rocket an initial upward acceleration of 19.6 ms-2

25. A steel ball of radius 2cm is initially at rest on a horizontal frictionless surface. It struck head on by another
steel ball of radius 4cm, traveling with a velocity of 81cms-1 Calculate the velocities of the two balls after the
collision. Assume the collision to be elastic.

26. A moving particle of mass m makes a head-on elastic collision with a particle of mass 2m which is initially
at rest what fraction of the kinetic energy is lost by the colliding particle?

27. A block of mass of 2kg slides along a frictionless table with a

speed of 10ms-1. There is a block of mass 5kg moving in the same
direction with 3ms-1. An ideal light spring of force constant
K=1120 Nm-1 is attached to the 5kg of mass as shown in the figure.
When the blocks collide, what is the maximum compression of the
spring?

28. Two bodies A and B of masses m and 2m respectively are placed

on a smooth floor. They are connected by a spring. A third body C of
mass m moves with a velocity vo along the line joining A and B and
collides elastically with A as shown in the figure. At a certain instant
of time to after collision, it is found that the instantaneous velocities
of A and B are the same. Further, at this instant the compression of
the spring is found to be xo. Determine,
(i) the common velocity of A and B at time to, and
(ii) the spring constant of the spring
29. A ball, moving with a speed of 9ms-1, strikes an identical stationary ball. The direction of each ball after the
collision makes an angle of 30° with the original line of motion. Find the speeds of the two balls after the
collision. Is the kinetic energy conserved in the collision process?

R Salman BSc (Hons)

 30. A body of mass 5kg moves along the x-axis with a velocity of 2ms-1. A second body of mass 10kg moves
along the y axis with a velocity of √3ms-1 they collide at the origin and stick together. Calculate,
(i) The final velocity of the combined mass after collision and,
(ii) the amount of heat liberated in the collision.

31. A pendulum bob of mass 10-2 kg is raised to a height of 5 x 10-2 m and then
released. At the bottom of its swing, it picks up a mass of 10-3 kg. To what height
will the combined mass rise?

32. An object of mass 5kg is projected with a velocity of 20ms-1 at an angle of 600 to the horizontal. At the
highest point of its path the projectile explodes and breaks up, into two fragment of masses 1kg and 4kg. The
fragments separated horizontally after the explosion. The explosion releases internal energy such that the kinetic
energy of the system at the highest point is doubled. Calculate the separation between the two fragments when
they reach the ground.

33. A Cat of 10kg is standing on a 40kg flatboat so that it is 20m from the shore. It walks 8m on the boat
towards the shore and stops. Assuming that there is no friction between the boat and the water, how far is it
from the shore now?

34. The last stage of a rocket is traveling at a speed of 25,000 ms-1. This last stage is made up of two parts
which are clamped together, a rocket case with a mass of 20kg and a capsule with a mass of 10kg. When the
clamp is released, a compressed spring causes the parts to separate with a relative speed of 3000ms-1.

(i) What are the speeds of the two parts after they have separated? Assume that all velocities are along
the same line.
(ii) Find the total kinetic energy of the two parts before and after they separate and account for the
difference, if any,
35. Two blocks m1 and m2 of masses 10kg and 5kg respectively are placed on a frictionless horizontal surface
and are connected by a light spring of force constant k = 5 Nm-1. m1 is in contact with a rigid wall. m2 is pushed
through a distance X=4 cm towards m1 and then released. Find the velocity of the mass m2 when m1 breaks off
the wall.

36. A block of mass m rests at a height h on a wedge of mass M and angle α which, in turn, rests on a horizontal
table, all surfaces are frictionless. If the block is released, show that the velocity of the wedge when the block
2𝑚2 𝑔ℎ𝑐𝑜𝑠2 𝛼
touches the table is given by √(𝑀+𝑚)2 −𝑚(𝑀+𝑚)𝑐𝑜𝑠2 𝛼

37. A 20g bullet pierces through a plate of mass M1 = 1 kg and then comes to rest inside a second plate of mass
M2= 2.98 kg. It is found that the two plates, initially at rest, and now moving with equal velocities. Find the
percentage loss in the initial velocity of the bullet when it is between M1 and M2. Neglect any loss of material of
the plates due to action of bullet.

R Salman BSc (Hons)

 38. A ball of mass m is projected into the barrel of a spring gun of mass M. initially at rest on a frictionless
surface. The ball strikes in the barrel at the point of maximum compression of the spring. What fraction of the
initial kinetic energy of the ball is stored in the spring at this occasion if no energy lost due to friction?

39. A bullet of mass m, moving with a horizontal velocity v, strikes a stationary block of mass M suspended by
a string of length L. The bullet gets embedded in the block. Show that the maximum angle made by the string
with the vertical after the impact is,
𝑚2 𝑣 2
cos −1 (1 − )
2 (𝑚+𝑀)2 𝑔𝐿

40. A bullet of mass 0.01kg, traveling at a speed of 500ms-1. pierces through a

block of mass 2kg which is suspended by a string of length 5m. The center of
gravity of the block is found to rise by a vertical distance of 0.1m. What is the
speed of the bullet after it emerges from the block?

41. A Block of mass m1 = 100 kg is at rest on a long frictionless table, one end of which is terminated in a rigid
wall. Another block of mass m2, placed between the first block and the wall,
is set in motion to the left with a constant speed. Assuming that all collisions
are elastic, find the value of m2 for which both the blocks move with the
same velocity after m2 has collided once with m1 and once with the wall.
The wall has effectively infinite mass.

42. Particles P and Q of masses 20 g and 40 g respectively are

simultaneously projected from points A and B, on the ground. The initial
velocities of P and Q make angles 45° and 135° respectively with line AB.
Each particle has an initial speed of 49 ms-1. The separation AB is 245 m.
Both particles travel in the same vertical plane and undergo for a collision.
After the collision, P retraces its path. Determine the position of Q when it
hits the ground. How long after collision does Q will take to reach the
ground?

43. Two simple pendulums, of each of length l, are initially situated as shown in
the figure. The first pendulum is released and strikes the second. If the collision
is completely inelastic, show that the height that the center of mass rise after the
𝑚1
collision is (𝑚 )2 d.
1 + 𝑚2

44. A perfectly elastic oblique collision takes place between a moving particle and a stationary particle of equal
masses. Show that after the collision the two particles move at right angles to each other.

45. A ball of mass 100 g is projected vertically upwards from the ground with a velocity of 49 ms-1. At the same
time another identical ball is dropped from a height of 98 m to fall freely along the same path as that followed
by the first ball. After some time the two balls collide and stick together and finally fall to the ground. Find the
time of flight of the masses.

R Salman BSc (Hons)

 46. A ball A, moving with a speed of 10ms-1, strikes a stationary ball B of double the mass. A moves at an angle
of 60° with the original line of motion and B moves at 30° with the original line After the collision. Find the
speeds of A and B after the collision.

47. Two bodies A and B of masses 100g and 400g respectively are moving towards each other with speeds 1ms-
1
and 0.1ms-1 respectively. They suffer a head-on collision and stick together. Calculate the loss of kinetic
energy during collision.
48. A ball A strikes an identical stationary ball B with a speed of 0.5ms-1. The collision is oblique and elastic.
The speed of A after the collision is 0.3ms-1. Find the speed of B after the collision and the angles made by the
directions of motion of A and B after the collision with the original direction of motion of A.

49. A shell of mass 3m is moving horizontally through the air with velocity u. An internal explosion causes it to
break into two parts of masses m and 2m. The two parts continue to move horizontally in the same vertical
plane. If the explosion generates an additional energy of 12 mu2 then find the relative velocity of separation of
the two parts.

50. A shot of mass 5g is fired from a gun of mass 4kg with a velocity of 81ms-1 relative to the gun which is free
to recoil. Find the energy released by the explosion of the cartridge and the ratio in which this energy is shared
by the gun and the shot.

51. A railway carriage of mass 10 T moving with a velocity of 12 ms-1 catches up with another carriage of mass
20T moving with a velocity of 6ms-1 and is coupled with it. The two carriages then collide and couple with a
third carriage of mass 7.5T which is at rest. Find the velocity with which the three carriages move.

52. A small ball A slides down the quadrant of a circle as shown in the
figure and hits a ball B of equal mass which is initially at rest. Find the
velocity of both balls after collision. Neglect the effect of friction and
assume the collision to be elastic.

53. A ball, moving on a smooth horizontal plane with a speed of 50cms-1, hits obliquely and elastically with an
identical ball at rest. Find the speed imparted to the target ball and the angle between the directions of motion of
the two balls after the collision.

54. A bomb, initially at rest, explodes into three parts. Two pieces go off at right angles to each other, a 1.0 kg
piece with a speed of 12ms-1 and a 2.0kg piece with a speed of 8ms-1. If the speed of the third piece is 40ms-1,
find its mass.
55. A bullet of mass 0.05kg is fired horizontally on a wooden block of mass 10kg resting on a rough horizontal
surface. The coefficient of friction between the block and the surface is 0.2. The bullet gets embedded inside the
block which moves, through 10 m before coming to rest. Find the initial velocity of the bullet.

R Salman BSc (Hons)