A piece of putty moving with 1 unit of momentum strikes and sticks to a heavy bowling ball that is initially at rest. After the putty sticks to the ball, both move with a combined momentum of

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The law of conservation of momentum states that the total momentum of a closed system is constant if no external forces act on it. Since the putty and the bowling ball stick together and no external forces are mentioned, their combined momentum after the collision is the same as the initial momentum of the putty, which is 1 unit.

A Piece of Putty Moving with 1 Unit of Momentum