Average force on a 1000 kg car striking a tree

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
3 replies · 4K views
yek_zzz
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Homework Statement

A 1000 kg car strikes a tree at 30 km/hr & comes to a stop in 0.15s. Find its initial momentum and the average force on the car while it is being stopped.


Attempt at a solution

For velocity,

I tried converting 30 km/hr to m/s

30 km/hr * 1hr/3600s*1000m/1km

=30000 m/ 3600 s = 8.33 m/s

For the momentum...

p = mv

p = 1000 kg (8.33 m/s)

p = 8330 kg * m/s

Is this correct? How do I find the average force? Please help me. My teacher says I'm wrong at some equation.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Everything you've done so far is correct. To find the average force, consider the impulse delivered by the tree.
 
how do I solve for that? We are only given the mass, velocity and the time.
 
You have all you need. What's the definition of impulse? Look up the impulse-momentum theorem. You'll set up an equation and solve for the force.