Conservation of Momentum in Billiard Ball Collision
What happens when a billiard ball moves and slams into an identical billiard ball in the absence of frictional forces?
- The stuck billiard ball will have half of the momentum of the billiard ball that hit it
- The billiard balls will combine
- The struck billiard ball will bounce off and move backward from the identical ball at rest.
- The struck billiard ball will have the same momentum as the billiard ball that hit it
Answer:
The struck billiard ball will have the same momentum as the billiard ball that hit it.
Final answer: In absence of friction, if one billiard ball strikes another, the struck ball gains the same momentum as the initial ball, according to the law of conservation of momentum. The momentum is not split between balls, and they don't combine. Direction of movement is based on momentum transfer. The correct answer is The struck billiard ball will have the same momentum as the billiard ball that hit it.
Explanation:
In the absence of frictional forces, if a billiard ball hits an identical ball, the struck ball will possess the same momentum as the ball that hit it. This concept is based on the law of conservation of momentum, which states that the total momentum of a closed system remains constant if no external forces are acting upon it.
In this specific scenario, the initial momentum of the system is entirely contained in the moving ball, whilst the second ball is at rest. When the moving ball strikes the stationary one, it transfers its momentum to the other ball. Consequently, the struck billiard ball will have the same momentum as the initial moving ball.
This situation does not split the momentum between the two balls, and the balls will not combine. The struck ball will not necessarily move backward from the identical ball at rest either. Instead, it will move in the direction dictated by the momentum transfer, usually forward along the same path as the initial ball's movement.