Question

To win a prize at the county fair, you're trying to knock down a heavy bowling pin by hitting it with a thrown object. Should you choose to throw a rubber ball or a beanbag of equal size and weight?

Answer 1

Answer:

Being an elastic object, rubber ball will be an ideal choice as it will bounce off the bowling pit and will experience a large change in momentum in comparison with the beanbag which will either slow down or come to a halt upon hitting a bowling pit. That is why rubber ball will experience a greater impulse and the bowling pin will experience the negative impulse of the rubber ball.

For Rubber Ball

Upon elastic collision it will reverses the direction and move with velocity equal or less then original

change in momentum = P

$P = m(v_{f} -v_{i})\\v_{f}=-v_{i} \\ P = -2mv_{i}$

For Beanbag

value of impulse will large if velocity is zero.

$v_{f}=0\\ P = -mv_{i}$

Explanation: