Calculating Impact Force of Bowling Ball: Seeking Assistance

[Valeres]

Hi,

I'm trying to solve an argument and hope someone can point me in the right direction.

How does one calculate the impact force of a 7.26kg bowling ball traveling at 12 meters per second and impacting a single pin weighing 1.64kg. I calculated the energy of the bowling ball at 662 Newton meters but i have no idea where to go from here as its been 7 years since I took a physics class. I'm assuming the impact force will be measured in something like g-forces.

The only formula I could find was f=m(dv/dt) but I don't think that's what I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dale]

Usually for something like this you would never bother with trying to calculate the impact force. What you would estimate would be the pin's change in momentum assuming an elastic collision. (Two equations - conservation of momentum and conservation of KE - two unknowns - velocity of pin and ball after collision)

The momentum is fairly easy to calculate and momentum is related to force by F=dp/dt. However, unless you know the duration of the contact of the ball with the pin it is impossible to translate that into a force. That duration would be very difficult to measure.

 

[sir-pinski]

Hello,

Calculating the impact force of a bowling ball can be done using the formula F=ma, where F is the force, m is the mass, and a is the acceleration. In this case, the mass of the bowling ball is 7.26kg and the acceleration can be calculated using the formula a=v/t, where v is the velocity and t is the time. Since the bowling ball is traveling at 12 meters per second, the time it takes to impact the pin can be estimated to be around 0.1 seconds. Therefore, the acceleration would be 12/0.1=120m/s^2. Plugging in the values, we get F=(7.26kg)(120m/s^2)=871.2N. This is the force exerted by the bowling ball on the pin, and can be converted to g-forces by dividing by the acceleration due to gravity, which is approximately 9.8m/s^2. Therefore, the impact force in g-forces would be 871.2/9.8=88.8g.

I hope this helps with your argument and provides some clarity on how to calculate the impact force of a bowling ball. Remember to always double check your calculations and units to ensure accuracy. Best of luck!