An unfortunate bug splatters on the windshield of a moving car. Describe the forces, impulses, momentum changes, and accelerations of both the bug and the car
What will be an ideal response?
Answer: According to Newton's third law, the force of collision will be the same on both the bug and the car, but will act in opposite directions. The time during which the force acts is the same on both, so the impulses on the bug and the car will be equal in magnitude but opposite in direction. This means that each will undergo equal and opposite changes in momentum. It is important to stress that the momentum of car and the bug are not the same, but they change by the same amount! The car loses as much momentum as the bug gains in the collision. Because of the small mass of the bug, its acceleration will be very large. Because of the large mass of the car, its acceleration (deceleration) will be unnoticeable.
You might also like to view...
The Greeks abandoned their earliest cosmological theory (planets moving in simple circles around Earth) because
A) it did not agree with their observations of the planets.
B) it seemed messy and unsatisfying.
C) they came to believe that Earth should be at the center of things.
D) they came to believe that the sun should be at the center of things.
E) Actually, they never did abandon or revise their earliest theory--it was not altered until the time of Copernicus.
The wavelength of the emitted photon if an electron in the hydrogen atom makes a transition from the n = 2 state to the ground state is closest to which of the following values?
(c = 3.0 × 108 m/s, h = 6.626 × 10-34 J ? s, 1 eV = 1.60 × 10-19 J) A) 122 nm B) 203 nm C) 243 nm D) 389 nm E) 411 nm
Earth is the only terrestrial planet to have experienced tectonic stresses and volcanic activity
Indicate whether the statement is true or false
According to the special theory of relativity, physical laws are the same in frames of reference which
A. move in ellipses. B. accelerate. C. move in circles. D. move at uniform velocity.