Consider a billiards player hitting a cue ball with mas m and velocity v directl

Question

Consider a billiards player hitting a cue ball with mas m and velocity v directly at another stationary ball of identical mass so that they hit head on. After the collision, the cue ball is stationary and the other ball has velocity v.

1. What is the momentum of the cue ball initially?

2. What is the momentum of the stationary ball initially?

3. What is the total momentum of the system (both balls together) before the collision?

4. What is the momentum of the cue ball after collision?

5. What is the momentum of the other ball after collision?

6. What is the total momentum of the system (both balls together) after the collision?

7. How does the momentum of the system before the collision compare to the momentum of the system after the collision?

Explanation / Answer

(1) Intially, the momentum of cue ball is mv

(2) Intially, the momentum of the stationary ball initially is zero

(3) Before collsion, the total momentum of the system is

mv + 0 = mv

(4) After collision, the cue ball is stationary, so its momentum is zero

(5) The momentum of other ball after collison is mv, because the momentum of cue ball is transferred to this other ball so as to momentum conservation holds good,

(6) Total momentum of the system after collision is

0 + mv = mv

(7) The momentum before collision is equal to momentum after collison. The law of conservation of momentum hold good.

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