Question

Lucy is cruising through space in her new spaceship. As she coasts along, a tiny spacebug drifts into her path and bounces off the window. Consider several statements concerning this scenario. Evaluate each statement according to the law of momentum conservation and match it to the appropriate category.

Answer 1

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Lucy is cruising through space in her new spaceship. As she coasts along, a spacebug drifts into her path and bounces off the window. Consider several statements concerning this scenario. Evaluate each statement according to the law of momentum conservation and match it to the appropriate category.

Below are several statements concerning this scenario. Evaluate each statement and decide if it is true, false, or undetermined by the principle of momentum conservation.

i) The total change in momentum for this interaction is zero.

ii) The change in the space bug's momentum is greater than the change in the spaceship's momentum.

iii) If the space bug had stuck to the spaceship instead of bouncing off, momentum would not have been conserved for this interaction.

Answer:

I is true

II is false

III is undetermined

Explanation:

STATEMENT I : This statement is TRUE because because they was no change in velocity and mass of the spaceship and spacebug, after the collision, as the bug bounced outside the window and the spaceship retains it's velocity. Therefore the total momentum in the system before the collision, is equal to the total momentum of the system after the collision.

Where;

momentum = Mass × velocity

M1V1 = M2V2

Therefore;

M2V2 - M1V1 = 0

STATEMENT II : This statement is FALSE, because the change in the momentum of the spaceship and bug are equal, as the spaceship and bug remains in constant motion after collision. The collision did not have any effect in their velocity nor mass.

Ps = Pb

Ps = Momentum of spaceship

Pb = Momentum of spacebug

STATEMENT III : The statement is UNDETERMINE, because it will depend on the momentum we are considering. If the spaceship is still in constant motion, that means moment of the spaceship is conserved, while that of the spacebug is not conserved.