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

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

According to law of conservation of momentum, the total momentum before the collision is equal to the total momentum after the collision. The momentum of the putty before the collision is 1 unit and that of the bowling ball is 0 unit. Therefore, the total momentum before the collision is 1 unit. After the collision, the putty and the ball stick together and move with the same velocity. Therefore, the total momentum after the collision is equal to the combined mass of the putty and the ball multiplied by their common velocity. Since the ball is heavy, its mass dominates the combined mass and the common velocity is much smaller than the initial velocity of the putty. Therefore, the total momentum after the collision is still approximately 1 unit. Hence, the answer is C.

A Piece of Putty Moving with 1 Unit of Momentum