Question

You are standing on a saucer-shaped sled at rest in the middle of a frictionless ice rink. Your lab partner throws you a heavy Frisbee. You take different actions in successive experimental trials. Rank the following situations according to your final speed from largest to smallest. If your final speed is the same in two cases, give them equal rank.
(a) You catch the Frisbee and hold onto it.
(b) You catch the Frisbee and throw it back to your partner.
(c) You bobble the catch, just touching the Frisbee so that it continues in its original direction more slowly.
(d) You catch the Frisbee and throw it so that it moves vertically upward above your head.
(e) You catch the Frisbee and set it down so that it remains at rest on the ice.

Answer 1

In order to solve the given question, we will use the formula of momentum of an object to rank the speed of the given situations from largest to smallest. Change in momentum will help to rank the above situations according to the speed of the Frisbee.

Complete step-by-step solution:
In the given question we have to rank the given situations according to final speed from largest to smallest
So, we will solve this question using the equation of momentum which says that,
$p=mv$
Where p is the momentum; m is the mass of the body and v is the velocity of the body.
In option (a) you transfer the momentum of Frisbee to the body and you hold on to it so the momentum of Frisbee transfers to your body.
In option (b) you catch the Frisbee and then throw it to another partner so the speed of the Frisbee will increase so, speed of situation (b) will be greater than speed of situation (a)
In option (c) you bobble the Frisbee and it moves slowly in the same direction, so the speed of the Frisbee will be smallest in this situation.
In option (d) you catch the Frisbee and throw it vertically upwards, so the speed of the Frisbee will be the same as that of option (b) where you catch the Frisbee and throw it horizontally towards your partner.
In option (e) you catch the frisbee and set it down so that it remains at rest on the ice, that means the speed of frisbee in this case will be greater than situation (a) and situation (d) which are both equal
So, we can clearly say that situation (b) will have the highest speed in that situation and situation (c) will have the lowest speed in this situation. And situation (a) and situation (d0 both have the same speeds.
So, Correct Order is $b>e>a=d>c$

Note: In the questions like these we use the equation of momentum to check the speed of the object and also remember that either throw object vertically or horizontally both the situation will have same momentum and hence the speed will also be same because the object is same so, the mass given is also same.