I still don't understand what property the ball traveling to the right has that is different to the one traveling to the left.
Or maybe there is no way this can be determined at a set moment.
Either there is no easy way this can be explained to a layman or it is unknown?
Please ignore this if...
I suppose it doesn't matter if there are two balls. I just don't understand. Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to any change in its state of motion, including changes to its speed and direction. It is a power of resisting by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavours to...
Thanks for the answers folks but I can't say I am any the wiser. Momentum may be conserved but what is the difference between the two balls as they pass that dictates one will continue to the left and the other to the right. It doesn't matter what they are made of - the same could be said for a...
As a thought experiment with no forces acting upon the balls. The balls don't collide. If you could examine them - what is different about them - that one ball would continue in a certain direction while the other continues on the opposite direction? You can't just say it's inertia? The balls...
I joined the forum to hope for an answer to a question that has been bugging me for a while. If I hit a tennis ball in a vacuum with no other forces acting upon it and another chap hits a ball from the other end of the court - at the moment the balls cross if you could freeze time what...