An astronaut is in space with a baseball and a bowling balL The astronaut gives both objects an equal push in the samedirection. Does the baseball have the same inertia as the bowling ball? Why? Does the baseball have the sameacceleration as the bowling ball from the push? Why? If both balls are traveling at the same speed, does the baseball havethe same momentum as the bowling ball?

Question

Physics

Dandy

10 February, 10:00

An astronaut is in space with a baseball and a bowling balL The astronaut gives both objects an equal push in the samedirection. Does the baseball have the same inertia as the bowling ball? Why? Does the baseball have the sameacceleration as the bowling ball from the push? Why? If both balls are traveling at the same speed, does the baseball havethe same momentum as the bowling ball?

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Taylor Osborn · Answer 1

For all solutions the answer is NO. And this is easily intuited because for the three conditions there is the dependence of the mass against some physical property of movement. Both bodies do not have the same mass.

In the case of Inertia, it is understood that it is the tendency of an object to resist change and is mass dependent. The object with greater mass will tend to resist change. Since the mass of the bowling ball is greater than the base ball, the bowling ball has greater inertia compared to the base ball.

For the second part, remember that force, according to Newton's second law, is defined as the product between mass and acceleration, so the bowling ball will accelerate less by having a greater mass.

Finally, momentum is defined as the product between mass and velocity. The mass is greater than one of its objects even though the speeds are the same. Therefore, the momentum of the bowling ball is greater than the momentum of baseball.