Practice solving problems involving momentum, impulse, force-time graphs, recoil, explosions, and conservation of momentum in one and two dimensions.
Read each problem carefully. Use units in every calculation. Show your work in the space provided.
Calculating momentum, impulse, and collision outcomes
Physics - Grade 9-12
- 1
A 1200 kg car travels east at 20 m/s. Calculate the car's momentum, including direction.
- 2
A 0.50 kg soccer ball is kicked with an average force of 150 N for 0.20 s. Find the impulse delivered to the ball and the change in the ball's velocity.
- 3
A 1000 kg car moving at 15 m/s brakes to a stop in 3.0 s. Find the average braking force on the car.
- 4
Two ice skaters start at rest and push off from each other. Skater A has a mass of 60 kg and moves left at 1.5 m/s. Skater B has a mass of 45 kg. Find Skater B's velocity.
- 5
A 2.0 kg cart moving at 3.0 m/s collides with a 1.0 kg cart at rest. The carts stick together. Find their final velocity.
- 6
A 0.15 kg ball moving at 40 m/s hits a wall and rebounds in the opposite direction at 30 m/s. Take the original direction as positive. Calculate the impulse on the ball.
- 7
A force-time graph for a collision is a triangle with a base of 0.10 s and a maximum force of 800 N. Find the impulse delivered during the collision.
- 8
A 0.010 kg bullet leaves a 4.0 kg rifle at 400 m/s forward. If the rifle was initially at rest, find the recoil velocity of the rifle.
- 9
A 0.20 kg baseball moves at 35 m/s. A 5.0 kg bowling ball moves at 1.2 m/s. Determine which object has greater momentum and by how much.
- 10
Explain why an airbag reduces the force on a person during a car crash even though the person's change in momentum is the same.
- 11
A 4.0 kg object at rest explodes into two pieces. A 1.5 kg piece moves east at 8.0 m/s. Find the velocity of the other piece.
- 12
A 0.50 kg cart moving right at 2.0 m/s collides elastically with an identical 0.50 kg cart at rest. State the final velocity of each cart after the collision.
- 13
A 0.20 kg puck initially moves east at 10 m/s. After a collision, it moves north at 6.0 m/s. Find the impulse vector on the puck.
- 14
A 0.40 kg cart moves right at 2.0 m/s and collides with a 0.60 kg cart moving left at 1.0 m/s. The carts stick together. Find their final velocity.
- 15
An 80 kg astronaut at rest in space throws a 5.0 kg tool to the right at 12 m/s. Find the astronaut's velocity after throwing the tool.