If a cart collides with the end of the air track and rebounds, it will have nearly the same momentum it had before it collided, but in the opposite direction. Is momen¬tum conserved in such a collision? EXPLAIN.
Someone else answer please-sorry, just want one more opinion/explanation.
In the collision and rebound, the cart's forward momentum was converted into backwards momentum. But the end of the air track would have also experienced an equal (in magnitude) but opposite (in direction) change in momentum. However, if the end of the air track is fixed to the Earth, then the entire Earth would absorb this change in momentum, and since the Earth is presumably many trillions of times heavier than the cart, you wouldn't really notice the change in momentum of the Earth. But in the grand scheme of things, (linear) momentum is always conserved.
Get Answers For Free
Most questions answered within 1 hours.