PHYSICS 12

Unit 4 ~ Learning Guide Name: ______________________________

Instructions:
Using a pencil, complete the following notes as you work through the related lessons. Show ALL
work as is explained in the lessons. You are required to have this package completed BEFORE
you write your unit test. Do your best and ask questions if you don’t understand anything!

Momentum:
1. Since momentum is based on the same concepts as Newton’s laws, why do we find it
necessary (and/or convenient) to work with the concept of momentum?

2. Describe the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions.

3. Derive the general conservation of momentum for two objects involved in an elastic
collision starting with pbefore = pafter.

4. Derive the general conservation of momentum for two objects involved in an inelastic
collision starting with pbefore = pafter.

5. Derive the general conservation of momentum for an object exploding into two objects
starting with pbefore = pafter.

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Collisions & Explosions:

1. An atomic nucleus at rest decays radioactively into an alpha particle and a smaller nucleus.
The alpha particle is observed to move off at a speed of 3.8 X 105 m/s. What will be the
speed and direction (relative to the alpha particle) of the recoiling nucleus if the daughter
nucleus is 57 times more massive than the alpha particle? Show your work.

2. A 145 kg astronaut (including space-suit) acquires a speed of 2.50 m/s by pushing off with
her legs from an 1850 kg space capsule. a) What is the change in speed of the space
capsule? b) If the push lasts for 0.500 sec, what is the average force exerted by each on
the other? Consider a reference frame in which the space capsule is at rest before the
pushing off. Show your work.

3. Suppose there are three astronauts outside a spaceship, and two of them decide to play
catch with the third man. All the astronauts weigh the same on earth and are equally
strong. The first astronaut throws the second one toward the third one and the game
begins. Describe the motion of the astronauts as the game proceeds. How long will the
game last?

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4. A 5.0 g air pellet is fired into a 495 g sandbag, which is suspended by a string to form a
pendulum. If the sandbag plus the imbedded pellet move off at 2.0 m/s immediately after
the pellet hits the sandbag, what was the speed of the pellet just before it hit the sandbag?
Show your work as shown in the lessons.

5. A boy and his skateboard have a combined mass of 64 kg. If he is moving with a speed of
3.2 m/s, and collides with a stationary skateboarder whose mass (including his skateboard)
is 96 kg, with what speed will the two skateboarders move immediately after the collision?
Assume they are hopelessly entangled, but their wheels point in the same direction).
Show your work as shown in the lessons.

6. The Titanic hit an iceberg estimated to be half of her mass. Before hitting the iceberg, the
Titanic was estimated to be going 22 kts (11.3 m/s). After hitting the iceberg, the Titanic
was estimated to be going about 6.0 knots (3.1 m/s). How fast was the iceberg going after
the collision? Assume a head-on collision. Show your work as shown in the lessons.

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7. A rail car of mass 20 000 kg is moving at 5.0 m/s toward a second rail car of mass 40 000 kg
moving in the same direction at 1.8 m/s. They collide and the first car is seen moving
backward at 1.5 m/s. What must be the final velocity of the second car?

8. Ms. Grisham is rear-ended at a stop light by Mr. Nelson, and sues to make him pay her
medical bills. He testifies that he was only going 35 km/hr when he hit Ms. Grisham. She
thinks he was going much faster than that. The cars skidded together after the impact, and
measurements of the length of the skid marks and the coefficient of friction show that their
joint velocity immediately after the impact was 19 km/hr. Mr. Nelson's car weighs 2100 kg,
while Ms. Grisham's weighs 2600 kg. Is Mr. Nelson telling the truth?

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Impulse:
1. A volleyball is hit so that its incoming velocity of +40 m/s is changed to outgoing velocity of
-21 m/s. The mass of the volleyball is 0.35 kg. What impulse does the player apply to the
ball?

2. A golfer hits a golf ball off the tee giving the ball a velocity of +38m/s. The mass of the ball is
0.045 kg, and the duration of the impact with the golf ball is 0.003 s. a) What is the change
in momentum of the golf ball? b) Determine the average force applied to the golf ball by the
club.

3. What is the average force applied by a baseball bat to a 0.12 kg ball if the ball changes in
velocity from 40 m/s towards the batter to 50 m/s away from the batter following a 0.02
second contact?

4. Explain (in terms of Impulse and momentum) why coaches in baseball, hockey, boxing,
tennis, golf, and many other sports, spend a lot of time on the idea of a good “follow-
through?”

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5. A BC Ferry (m = 13000.0 tonnes) is traveling at 11 m/s when the engines are put in reverse.
The engines produce a force of 1.0 x 106 N for a period of 20.0 seconds.
a. What is the magnitude of the impulse from the engine? What will be it's direction (positive
or negative?)

b. What is the new momentum of the ferry?

c. What is the new velocity of the ferry?

6. A 0.05 kg bullet moving vertically upwards at 125 m/s hits a stationary 2.6 kg block hanging
from a 5.00 m long string. The block then soars upward until it reaches a maximum height
(you may assume that the bullet remains within the sandbag).

a. What physics concept applies for the collision between the bullet and the block? Calculate
the speed the block has immediately after the collision.

b. What kind of energy does the block have after the collision? Where does this energy go
once it soars into the air and reaches its maximum height?

c. Calculate the maximum height reached by the block.

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7. A space vehicle made up of two parts is travelling at 230 m/s as shown. An explosion
causes the 450 kg part to separate and travel with a final velocity of 280 m/s as shown.

a. Is this considered to be elastic or inelastic?

Look up these definitions and support your decision with these.

b. For ANY collision or explosion what two quantities are ALWAYS conserved? Be
specific.

c. After the explosion shown above we see that the front nose increases its velocity from
230 m/s to 280 m/s. What do you predict will happen to the rear of the space vehicle?
How does your prediction support your answer to (b) above?

d. Determine the final velocity of the rear piece.

e. Calculate the change in momentum of both the front and rear pieces separately. Be
careful with the signs. What did you discover for explosions (and collisions) involving
two masses?

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f. What is the Impulse that acts on each piece during the explosion? Use above to help.

g. Explain why your answers to (f) make sense if we consider the equation I = Favgt as
opposed to I = Δp. Be sure to refer to the appropriate of Newton’s Laws to assist in your
explanation (no calculations are necessary).

8. The graph below shows the force acting on a tennis ball (mass 0.055 kg) as a function of
time.

a. Determine what the units would be for the area under the curve. What does this area
represent (pay attention to the units)?

b. Do your best to estimate the area under this curve by counting squares and partial
squares.

c. What is the impulse given to the ball?

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d. Assuming the ball was initially at rest, what was the final speed of the ball after the force
acted on it?

e. Determine the average Force that acts on the ball over this time interval. Draw a
horizontal line on the graph at this point and label it Favg.

Momentum & Energy:

9. Compare the total kinetic energy before and after for each of the situations below. Discuss
what happens to the energy.
Situation Total kinetic energy after (compared If there is a change in Kinetic
to before) – circle choice Energy where does this energy
go or come from?
Elastic collision Increases / decreases / same

Inelastic collision Increases / decreases / same

Explosion Increases / decreases / same

10. Discuss why there are no seatbelts in a passenger train. What would happen to the
passengers if the train were to collide with a car on the tracks?

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2D Momentum:
1. A 0.25 kg pool ball is moving at 5.0 m/s [E] toward a second identical ball at rest. After the
collision, the first ball is seen moving at 1.0 m/s [E]. What is the final velocity of the second
ball?

2. A stationary 20.0 kg mass explodes into three fragments. As shown in the diagram below,
the 5.0 kg fragment moves north with an initial speed of 7.0 m/s. The 9.0 kg fragment
moves off at 38° S of W with an initial speed of 4.0 m/s.

a. What must the total momentum for all three pieces be after the explosion? State the law
that justifies your answer.

b. Any collision or explosion must adhere to the Law of Conservation of Energy. Collisions
that are perfectly elastic are ones in which Kinetic Energy is Conserved. Is it possible for
an explosion such as this to be elastic? Is kinetic energy gained or lost? Briefly explain.

c. State how energy is conserved in an explosion like this? Be specific.

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d. What is the velocity (magnitude and direction) of the 6.0 kg fragment after the explosion?
Solve this question using both the trigonometric and the component methods.
Trig. Method (include a vector diagram)

Component Method (show all work)

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3. A 98.0 kg hockey player skating at 2.12 m/s 32° S of W is body checked by an 87.0 kg
opponent who is skating at 0.900 m/s N. They collide inelastically and stick together.
a. What is the velocity of the pair immediately after the collision? Solve using both
methods. .
Trig. Method (include a vector diagram)

Component Method (show all work)

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b. Determine the impulse imparted to the 98.0 kg player. Using the component method,
show your steps.

c. From what you know about Impulse, what would the Impulse for the 87.0 kg player be?
Provide both magnitude and direction. (you need not calculate if you understand the
concepts)

d. State what you found out for questions b and c above and justify your results using I =
Favg t. State any of the appropriate Newton’s Laws to help explain. No calculations are
necessary. Simply justify what you found out from (b) and (c) by using the other
equation for Impulse, I = Favg t.

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4. In an accident, a compact car, mass 575 kg, moving at 15 m/s hits the rear end of a car
with mass 1575 kg, originally going 5.0 m/s. They lock together and slide forward.
a. Using momentum, what is the new velocity of the cars?

b. Using conservation of energy, what is the new velocity of the cars?

c. Why the difference? Which is correct?

d. For what collisions can energy be used?

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Answers:

Momentum
3) m1v1 + m2v2 = m1v1' + m2v2' 4) m1v1 + m2v2 = (m1 + m2) v' 5) (m1 + m2)v = m1v1' + m2v2'

Collisions & Explosions

1) -6.7x103m/s 2) 725N 4) 2.0x102m/s 5) 1.3 m/s 6) 16 m/s 7) 5.1 m/s

Impulse
1) -21kgm/s 2) 1.7kgm/s, 570N 3) -540N 5) -2.0x107Ns (negative because it acts against the ferry to
slow it down), 1.2x108kgm/s, 9.5m/s 6) 2.4m/s, 0.28m 7) 210m/s, 23000kgm/s 8) 1100Nms, 1.1Ns,
20m/s, 160N

2D Momentum
1) 4.0m/s [E] 2) d) 5.2m/s [24˚S of E] 3) a) 0.968m/s [10.2°S of W] b) 125 kg m/s [48°N of E]
c) 125 Ns [48° S of W] 4) a) 7.7m/s b) 8.9m/s d) perfectly elastic collisions

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