Which has a greater momentum: a heavy truck at rest or a moving skateboard?
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Textbook Solutions for Conceptual Physics
Question
Suppose that there are three astronauts outside a spaceship and they decide to play catch. 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?
Solution
Step 1 of 2
Let us consider three astronauts having the same weight on Earth are playing catch.
Let, astronaut 1 throws astronaut 2 with a velocity of towards astronaut 3. From Newton’s third law of motion, astronaut 1 will move in the opposite direction with the same velocity
.
Now, when astronaut 2 collides with astronaut 3, their mass will be twice and they will continue to move in the same direction with a velocity of .
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