PHYSICS GUIDE Nº 9: IMPULSE and MOMENTUM OF MOTION

1. A baseball whose mass is 0.15 kg is thrown with a speed of 30 m/s and is hit in the
opposite direction of the throw with a speed of 40 m/s. Calculate:
a) the increase in the momentum [ R: 10.5 kg·m/s ].
b) the impulse of the blow [ R: 10.5 kg·m/s ].
c) if the contact time interval is 0.002 s, calculate the average force of the blow [ R:
5250 N ].

2. There are two skaters of masses 40 kg and 60 kg, which move in different directions.
The first has a speed of 4 m/s and the
second has a speed of 2 m/s. If they
collide head-on and remain in contact
after the collision, calculate the final
velocity [ R: 0.4 m/s ].
Exercise 2

3. An 80 kg man and a child are together on an ice

rink and both have skates on. The boy pushes the
man for 2 s, with which he acquires a speed of 2
m/s. If the child acquires a speed of 8 m/s,
calculate:
a) the mass of the child [ R: 20 kg ].
b) the average force of the push [ R: 80 N ].
Exercise 3

4. A sphere of mass 1 kg falls vertically on the floor with a speed of 20 m/s and
rebounds with a speed of 10 m/s. Determine:
a) What impulse acts on the sphere during contact [ R: 30 N·s ].
b) If the sphere remains in contact for 0.02 s, what is the average force exerted by the
floor? [ A: 1500 N ].
5. A car A of 2,000 kg is traveling on a horizontal road with a speed of 30 m/s. In front
of it, with the same direction and direction, is another car B of 800 kg with a speed of
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20 m/s. The shock occurs for 3 s. If after the collision car A continues with a speed of
20 m/s, calculate:
a) the speed with which carriage B continues [ R: 45 m/s ].
b) the average applied force with which cart A pushes cart B [ R: 6,666.67 N ].

6.

Exercise 6

In the figure above, drawing (a) represents two spheres A and B of masses, m A = 2 kg
and m B = 3 kg. B is stationary and A is approaching it with a speed of 4 m/s.
Drawing (b) represents part of what happens after the collision, that is, A deviates 20º
from the horizontal and moves with a speed of 3 m/s. Determine the speed of sphere B
and the angle it deviates from the horizontal. [ R: v B ' = 1.043 m/s; α = 40.98 ≈
40º59'8'' ].

7.

Exercise 7

In the figure above, (a) represents two spheres A and B of masses, m A = 4 kg and
m B = 3 kg moving towards P with velocities of v A = 6 m/s and v B = 7 m/s and with
the directions indicated in the drawing.
Drawing (b) represents sphere B after the collision, which has deviated 40º from the
horizontal and has a speed of 10 m/s. Calculate the speed of A after the collision as well
 PHYSICS GUIDE Nº 9: IMPULSE and MOMENTUM OF MOTION3 of 7

as the angle of deviation in relation to the horizontal [ R: v A ' = 6.986 m/s; α = 50.54 ≈
50º32'36'' ].

8. A body having a mass of 10 kg moves with a speed of 10 m/s and varies its
speed uniformly up to 20 m/s in 3 s.
a) What impulse has acted? [ R: 100 N·s ].
b) What is the change in momentum? [ R: 100 kg·m/s ].
c) What was the force that acted? [ R: 33.3N ].

9. A car whose mass is 10,000 kg is moving with a speed of 0.9 m/s on a horizontal
plane. If another car moves in the opposite direction, having a mass of 20,000 kg, with
what speed must the latter move so that after the interaction both remain at rest? [ R: 
0.45 m/s ].

10. A hammer having a mass of 500 g moving with a speed of 3.33 m/s strikes the
head of a nail causing it to penetrate a piece of wood. If the hammer stops in
0.0013 s, calculate:
a) the impulse carried out [ R: 1.665 N·s ].
b) the average force [ R: 1280.77 N ].

11. A cue hits a billiard ball, exerting an average force of 50 N during the time of 10
milliseconds. If the mass of the ball is 0.20 kg, what was the speed after impact? [ R:
2.5 m/s ].

12. A sled of mass 6 kg is moving pulled along the string with a speed of 9 m/s. A 12 kg
package is dropped vertically on it. Calculate:
a) the variation in the momentum of the sled [ R:  36 kg·m/s ].
b) the variation of the momentum of the package [ R: 36 kg·m/s ].
c) total momentum [ R: 54 kg·m/s ].

13. Two spheres move, one towards the east with

a speed of 2 m/s and the second towards the west
with a speed of 5 m/s. After the collision the first

Exercise 13
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one moves in the original direction at 0.5 m/s. Calculate the speed of the second
sphere after the collision, knowing that its mass is twice that of the first [ R:  4.25
m/s ].
m 1 = 2.5 kg v 1 = 0.5 m/s
m2 = 4 kg v2 = 2 m/s
14. A body of mass 1.8 kg is at rest. A
m 3 = 3 kg v 3 = 3 m/s determined force acts on it, giving it an
m 4 = 5 kg v 4 = 1 m/s acceleration of 2 m/s 2 . The movement acquired
allows it to travel 50 m with said acceleration.
What is the momentum when it has traveled this distance? [ R: 25.455 kg·m/s ].

15. A body of mass 1 kg falls vertically on the ground with a speed of 25 m/s and
rebounds with a speed of 10 m/s.
a) What impulse acted on the body during contact? [ R: 35 N·s ].
b) If the body was in contact for 0.020 s, what was the average force exerted on the
ground? [ A: 1750 N ].

16. A sphere of mass m 1 = 3 kg moves horizontally with a speed of 10 m/s and

collides with a sphere of mass m 2 = 5 kg that is at rest. After the collision, the
mass m 1 deviates 30º below the horizontal and the mass m 2 deviates 24º above
the horizontal. Calculate the speed of the spheres after the collision [ R: v 1 ' = 5.03
m/s; v 2 ' = 3.71 m/s ].

Exercise 16

17. The figure below shows a system of

discrete particles with the following data:
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Calculate the magnitude, direction and sense of the total momentum of the system
[ R: 2.54 kg·m/s; 214º47'20'' ].
Exercise 17

18. A rock that is at rest is dynamited and fragments into three parts. Two
fragments of masses 12 kg and 24 kg are thrown with speeds of 12 m/s and 8 m/s,
respectively, forming a right angle to each other, the rest is thrown with a speed of
50 m/s. Calculate:
a) the momentum of the third fragment [ R: 240 kg·m/s ].
b) the mass of said fragment [ R: 4.8 kg ].
c) the direction [ R: 233º7'48'' ].

19. A rock fragments into three parts and two of the fragments are shot at an angle
of 50º with each other at speeds of 20 m/s and 14 m/s. If their masses after the
explosion are respectively 1.2 kg and 2.5 kg, calculate:
a) the momentum of the third fragment [ R: 53.67 kg·m/s; α = 209.968 ≈ 209º58'5''
].
b) the speed of the third fragment knowing that its mass is 0.8 kg [ R: 67.09 m/s ].

20. A man on skates throws a stone weighing 80 N using a force of 15 N acting for 0.8
s. With what speed does the stone come out and what is the man's recoil speed if his
mass is 90 kg? [ R: 1.47 m/s;  0.133 m/s ].

21. A shotgun of mass 5.8 kg launches a

projectile of mass 20 g with an initial
velocity of 750 m/s. What will be the
reverse speed? [ R: 2.59 m/s ].
22. An object explodes into three
fragments of masses m 1 = 4 kg, m 2 = 6
kg and m 3 = 10 kg that move
respectively with speeds whose modules
are: v 1 = 20 m/s, v 2 = 12 m/s syv 3 = 8
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m/s in the directions and senses shown in the figure. If at a given moment the
fragments occupy the positions indicated in the figure (distances in m):
a) What is the position of the center of mass? [ R: x C =  0.7 m; and C =  1.4 m ].

b) what will be its speed? [ R: v C = 5.773 m/s; α = 71º9'48'' ].

Exercise 22

23. Three objects of masses m 1 = 4 kg, m 2

= 6 kg and m 3 = 8 kg are located at the
vertices of an equilateral triangle with sides
40 cm, as shown in the figure. Determine:
a) position of the center of mass [ R: x C =
11.55 cm; and C = 24.4 cm ].
b) the speed of the center of mass,
knowing that the particles move with
speeds whose modules are: v 1 = 10 m/s, v
2 = 8 m/s and v 3 = 4 m/s in the indicated

directions and senses [ R : v C = 3.78 m/s;

Exercise 23 α = 87º46'39'' ].

24. A system is made up of two particles of masses m 1 = 8 kg, m 2 = 12 kg located at

the points P 1 = (2,  3) and P 2 = (4,1) respectively. The first moves with a speed of 5
m/s forming an angle of 30º with the horizontal x direction and the second moves with a
speed of 2 m/s along the y axis in a negative direction. Calculate:
a) the initial position of the center of mass [ R: x C = 3.2; and C =  0.6 ].
b) the speed of the center of mass [ R: v C = 1.744 m/s ].
c) total momentum of the center of mass [ R: 35 kg·m/s; α =  6º35'12'' ].
25. Two bodies A and B, whose masses are m A = 8 kg and m B = 24 kg, are separated
by a distance of 1.2 m. Determine the position of the center of mass [ R: the center of
mass is 30 cm from body B ].

26. A body of mass 5 kg is moving to the right with a speed of 3 m/s, which elastically
collides with another body of mass 3 kg, also moving to the right with a speed of 2 m/s.
Calculate the speed of the bodies after the collision [ R: 2.25 m/s and 3.25 m/s ].
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27. Two bodies of masses m 1 = 0.55 kg and m 2 = 0.45 kg are moving in the same
direction, with speeds of 1.8 m/s and 1.2 m/s respectively. Calculate:
a) What speed will it have after a frontal elastic collision? [ R: 1.26 and 1.86 m/s ].
b) If they moved in opposite directions with the indicated speeds, what will the speeds
be after the collision? [ R: 0.9 m/s and 2.10 m/s ].

28. A mass m 1 = 2 kg moving in the positive x direction, with a speed of 6 m/s,

elastically collides head-on with a mass m 2 . After the collision, the 2 kg mass
remains at rest and the mass m 2 moves with a speed of 12 m/s. Calculate the
value of m 2 and its velocity before the collision [ R: 0.667 kg and −6 m/s ].

29. A 2 kg sphere is moving at a speed of 1.5 m/s and collides head-on with another 1
kg sphere that is moving in the opposite direction at 0.5 m/s. Assuming that the collision
is elastic, calculate the velocities of the spheres after the collision [ R: 0.1667 ≈ 0.17
m/s and 2.17 m/s ].

web page with the simulator: (towards the end of the page)
http://www.sc.ehu.es/sbweb/fisica3/dinamica/choques/choques_2.html

BIBLIOGRAPHY CONSULTED:
 BRETT C., Ely and SUÁREZ A., William: 4th grade Physics Theory and Practice.
Year.
 NAVARRO, Enrique: Physics, First Year Articulation Program.
 Internet.