A cannon fires a cannonball. According to the third law the cannon exerts a forc

Question

A cannon fires a cannonball. According to the third law the cannon exerts a force on the cannon ball (action) and the cannonball exerts an equal but opposite force on the cannon (reaction). Why does the cannonball go much further than the cannon?

a. The cannonball is made out of a different material than the cannon

b. The third law only applies to objects that are connected (horse and wagon)

c. The inertia of the cannonball is much greater than the mass of the cannonball

d. A difference in inertia

a. The cannonball is made out of a different material than the cannon

b. The third law only applies to objects that are connected (horse and wagon)

c. The inertia of the cannonball is much greater than the mass of the cannonball

d. A difference in inertia

Explanation / Answer

d. A difference in inertia

This is because cannon and the cannon ball the formula comparison would look like this.

Cannon: F/M=a while Cannonball: F/m=A

As you can see, the reason the cannonball moves so much further than the cannon is because the masses of the two objects differ so greatly that the resulting acceleration is also a differential variable,hence the answer is difference in inertia

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