When a vertically falling firecracker bursts, the vector sum of momentum fragments

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

When a vertically falling firecracker bursts, the momentum of the fragments in the horizontal direction will cancel out to zero since the fragments will be scattered evenly in all directions. However, the momentum of the fragments in the vertical direction will still be equal to the momentum of the firecracker before bursting because of the law of conservation of momentum. Therefore, the vector sum of momentum fragments in the vertical direction equals the momentum of the firecracker before bursting, and the vector sum of momentum fragments in the horizontal direction cancels to zero.

When a Vertically Falling Firecracker Bursts, the Vector Sum of Momentum