Question

The following graphs are representing the momentum of two objects in which one is a red object and another one is a blue object before, during, and after a collision. In this the blue graph is perfectly depicting the momentum of the blue object in each case. All the red graphs are different. Identify from the graph which is the best in representing the possible momentum of the red object before, during, and after the collision?
A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

Answer 1

The law of conservation of momentum is being used in this question in order to solve it. This law tells that the total momentum of a body will remain unchanged even before and after the collision as long as there is no external force acting on the system. Momentum of a body is found by taking the product of the velocity of the body and mass of the body. This will help you in answering this question.

Complete answer:
As mentioned in the question, there is no external force experienced on the system during the collision, the total momentum of the system before and after the collision will be remaining the same. Therefore the sum of the momenta of the bodies before the collision will be equivalent as the sum of momenta after the collision. This is happening clearly in the graph of option C.

Therefore the correct answer is mentioned as option C.

Note:
Momentum is defined as a physical quantity which represents the speed of a body in accordance with the mass of the body. Momentum is a vector quantity which is possessing both direction as well as magnitude. There are two kinds of momentum, one is linear momentum and the other is angular momentum.