A 1-kg chunk of putty moving at 1 m/s collides with and sticks to a 5-kg bowling ball initially at rest. The bowling ball and putty then move with a momentum of

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The momentum before the collision is the sum of the momentums of the putty and the bowling ball. Since the bowling ball is initially at rest, its momentum is 0. The momentum of the putty is its mass times its velocity, which is $1\, \text{kg} \times 1\, \text{m/s} = 1\, \text{kg m/s}$. Since momentum is conserved in the collision, the total momentum after the collision is also $1\, \text{kg m/s}$.

A 1-Kg Chunk of Putty Moving at 1 M/s Collides