Exercise: Action/Reaction solution
Suppose a tennis ball (m= 0.1 kg) moving at a velocity v = 40 m/sec collides head-on with a truck (M = 500 kg) which is moving with velocity V = 10 m/sec.
- During the collision, the tennis ball exerts a force on the truck which is smaller than the force which the truck exerts on the tennis ball. TRUE or FALSE ?
Equal and opposite forces!
The tennis ball will suffer a larger acceleration during the collision than will the truck. TRUE or FALSE ?
Acceleration = Force / mass
- Suppose the tennis ball bounces away from the truck after the collision. How fast is the truck moving after the collision?
< 10 m/sec = 10 m/sec > 10 m/sec ?
To conserve total momentum, the truck’s speed must decrease since the tennis ball moves in the opposite direction after the collision.