why?
2006-11-30 16:01:21 · 6 answers · asked by you're_a_mango 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Newtonian momentum is mv, where m is mass, and v is velocity. So, if the bullet is going fast enough, it can have the same momentum as a truck. Let mass of the bullet be 1, and the mass of the truck be 1,000,000. Let velocity of the bullet be 1,000,000, and the velocity of the truck be 1. Then we have
Momentum of bullet = 1*1,000,000 = momentum of truck = 1,000,000*1.
2006-11-30 16:04:38 · answer #1 · answered by Scythian1950 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sure. momentum is proportional to velocity and mass. You just need to make the bullet's velocity much greater than that of the truck. If the truck is rolling down the highway, the bullet velocity would have to be very, very high... so high that it would burn up in the air due to air resistance... so you would have to put the bullet in outer space before speeding it up to the required velocity.
Of course, if the truck and bullet are both at rest, they both have the same momentum: zero.
2006-12-01 00:09:11 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Momentum is a quantity of motion, not just velocity/speed nor just the mass of the moving object, but it is a collective effect of both. If an object has a mass m and velocity v, its momentum p is: p = m*v
A bullet's mass is small, but its velocity is very high. If a truck (obviously very heavy) is moving very slowly then its momentum may equal that of the bullet. P = M*V
Knowing m, v and M of the truck, adjust its velocity so that their momenta are the same: V = mv/M
So the answer is: YES.
2006-12-01 00:11:49 · answer #3 · answered by Inquirer 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. Momentum is mass times velocity.
Of course the bullet would have to be traveling vey fast & the truck moving very slowly.
2006-12-01 00:34:28 · answer #4 · answered by yupchagee 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes .... momentum = mass * velocity.
You can have a small mass going very fast or a large mass going very slow and their momentum could be equal ... OR both masses could be at rest and have momentum = 0 and that would be equal to ... follow?
2006-12-01 00:23:11 · answer #5 · answered by themountainviewguy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sure, this is what make those tiny pieces of space debris so dangerous to the space shuttle. Although they don't weigh much there's a tremendous relative velocity and therefore lots of momentum.
2006-12-01 00:25:37 · answer #6 · answered by modulo_function 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋