Name:____________________________ Due Date:___________

General Physics 1 59
Momentum
1. a. Which has the greater mass-a heavy truck at rest or a rolling skateboard? (1 mark)
b. Which has greater momentum? (1 mark)

2. When the average force of impact on an object is extended in time, does this increase or decrease
the impulse? (1 mark)

3. What is the relationship between impulse and momentum? (2 mark)

4. a. For a constant force, if the duration of impact upon an object is doubled, by how much is the
impulse increased? (1 mark)
b. By how much is the resulting change in momentum increased? (1 mark)

5. In a car crash, why is it advantageous for an occupant to extend the time during which the collision
is taking place? (2 marks)

6. If the time of impact in a collision is extended by four times, by how much is the force of impact
altered? (1 mark)

7. When you throw a ball, do you experience an impulse? If you instead catch a ball of the
same speed? If you catch it, then throw it out again? Which impulse is greatest? (Visualize
yourself on a skateboard.) (3 marks)

8. Why is the force of impact greater in a collision that involves bouncing? (2 marks)

9. Why is the Pelton wheel design a better one than paddle wheels with flat blades? (2 marks)

10. What does it mean to say that momentum is a vector quantity? (2 marks)

11. In terms of momentum conservation, why does a gun kick (recoil) when fired? (2 marks)

12. The notes state that if no net force acts on a system, then the momentum of that system cannot
change. It also states there is no change in momentum when a rifle is fired. Doesn't the fact that a
bullet undergoes a considerable change in momentum as it accelerates along the barrel contradict
this? Explain (include diagram). (3 marks)

13. What does it mean to say that momentum is conserved? (2 marks)

14. Imagine that you are hovering next to a space shuttle in earth orbit and your buddy of equal
mass who is moving at 4 km/h with respect to the ship bumps into you. If he holds onto you, how
fast do you both move with respect to the ship? (1 mark)

15. When you ride a bicycle at full speed, which has the greater momentum—you or the bike?
(1 mark)
16. A bug and the windshield of a fast-moving car collide. Tell whether the following
statements are true or false. (4 marks)
a. The forces of impact on the bug and on the car are the same size.
b. The impulses on the bug and on the car are the same size.
c. The changes in speed of the bug and of the car are the same.
d. The changes in momentum of the bug and of the car are the same size.

17. A railroad diesel engine weighs 4 times as much as a flatcar. If a diesel coasts at 5 km/h into a
flatcar that is initially at rest, how fast do the two coast after they couple together? (2 marks)

18. A 5-kg fish swimming 1 m/s swallows an absent-

minded 1-kg fish at rest. What is the speed of the
larger fish immediately after lunch? What would its
speed be if the smaller fish were swimming toward it
at 4 m/s? (1+2 marks)

19. A deuteron is a unique nuclear particle of known mass. Suppose one is accelerated to a high
speed in an atomic accelerator and directed into an observation chamber. There it collides and
sticks to a target particle that is initially at rest. As a result of the impact, the combined target
particle and deuteron is observed to move at half the initial speed of the deuteron. Why do
observers conclude that the target particle is itself a deuteron? (3 marks)

MOMENTUM EXTENSION

20. Calculate the momentum of each of the following situations.

(a) A boy of mass 72kg, running at 6.7ms-1 East. (2 marks)
(b) A cricket ball of mass 0.26kg, moving at 34.0ms-l North. (2 marks)
(c) A concrete block of mass 6.80kg, falling with a speed of 24.0ms-l. (2 marks)
(d) A car of mass 1470kg, moving with a speed of 60kph. (2 marks)
(e) An alpha particle of mass is 6.644xl0-27kg, moving with a velocity of 1.67xl06ms-l. (2
marks)

21. A car has a momentum of magnitude l5,600sN. A force of 860N is applied to the car for 16s
in an attempt to stop the car.
(a) Does the car come to a halt? (3 marks)
(b) If not, what is the final speed of the car, given that its mass is 980kg? (3 marks)

22. A mass of 27kg traveling at 22 ms-1 breaks into two pieces, one of mass 15kg, which stops
immediately. What is the velocity of the other piece? (3 marks)