A ball of mass 5.0kg hits a smooth vertical wall normally with a speed of 2ms-1 and rebounds with the same speed. Determine the impulse experienced by the b...

A ball of mass 5.0kg hits a smooth vertical wall normally with a speed of 2ms^-1 and rebounds with the same speed. Determine the impulse experienced by the ball

Answer Details

The impulse experienced by the ball can be calculated using the impulse-momentum theorem, which states that the impulse on an object is equal to the change in momentum of the object. In this case, the ball has an initial momentum of p = mv, where m is its mass and v is its velocity, and it rebounds with the same speed, but in the opposite direction. This means that the final momentum of the ball is -mv. The change in momentum, therefore, is: Δp = -mv - mv = -2mv The impulse experienced by the ball is equal to the change in momentum, so: impulse = Δp = -2mv Substituting the given values, we get: impulse = -2(5.0 kg)(2 m/s) = -20.0 kg m/s Since impulse is a vector quantity, its magnitude is always positive. Therefore, we take the absolute value of the calculated impulse to get: impulse = 20.0 kg m/s So the correct answer to the question is 20.0 kg m/s.