Read it more carefully. It says the ME of the falling clay is lost.Leo Liu said:
Aha, I see--this is kinda tricky. Thank you.haruspex said:
Well, it is conserved if you consider the movement of the Earth :PDelta2 said:
Well, yes if we include Earth into our system it is conserved but by system i meant the block+clay.Leo Liu said:
Leo Liu said:
Right, but it explicitly asks about horizontal momentum.Delta2 said:
I have my doubt about conservation of horizontal momentum because we have the force of the spring acting in the x- direction which is at a maximum value btw during the collision.haruspex said:
I don't see how it affects horizontal momentum. The block is stationary when the clay sticks to it. No horizontal momentum immediately before impact and none immediately after.Delta2 said:
Isn't the spring force , via its impulse, going to transfer horizontal momentum ##\int_t^{t+\Delta t} kx(t) dt## during the impact time interval ##(t,t+\Delta t)##.haruspex said:
Yes, but in all such questions we take Δt to be arbitrarily small.Delta2 said:
Judging by the answer i think it means the horizontal momentum of the clay.haruspex said:
The answer given is that neither the clay nor the block change in momentum.Delta2 said:
SHM stands for Simple Harmonic Motion, which is a type of periodic motion where the restoring force is directly proportional to the displacement from equilibrium. In this case, the clay stuck to the oscillator is experiencing SHM because the force of the oscillator is causing it to move back and forth in a periodic manner.
The clay sticks to the oscillator due to the force of adhesion, which is the attractive force between two different materials. In this case, the clay and the oscillator have different materials and therefore experience adhesion, causing the clay to stick.
Yes, the clay can affect the oscillator's motion. Since the clay is stuck to the oscillator, it adds an additional mass to the system, which can change the oscillator's natural frequency and amplitude. This can alter the overall motion of the oscillator.
The clay's position on the oscillator can affect its motion in a few ways. If the clay is placed closer to the center of the oscillator, it will experience a smaller amplitude and a higher frequency of motion. If the clay is placed closer to the edge of the oscillator, it will experience a larger amplitude and a lower frequency of motion.
Yes, the clay can eventually fall off the oscillator due to its motion. If the amplitude of the oscillator's motion is large enough, it can cause the clay to lose its adhesion and fall off. Additionally, if the oscillator's motion is too fast, the clay may not have enough time to re-adhere to the oscillator before it moves again, causing it to fall off.