- #1
SillyYak
Poster warned about not using the homework template
The following reasoning leads to an apparent paradox; explain what’s wrong with the logic. A baseball player hits a ball. The ball and the bat spend a fraction of a second in contact. During that time they’re moving together, so their accelerations must be equal. Newton’s third law says that their forces on each other are also equal. But a = F/m, so how can this be, since their masses are unequal? (Note that the paradox isn’t resolved by considering the force of the batter’s hands on the bat. Not only is this force very small compared to the ball-bat force, but the batter could have just thrown the bat at the ball.)
I don't understand how to answer this question, if the bat and ball are changing their velocities at the same rate and the forces are the same don't masses have to be the same?
I don't understand how to answer this question, if the bat and ball are changing their velocities at the same rate and the forces are the same don't masses have to be the same?