Which Quality Does a Fired Cannonball Lack?

  • Thread starter Thread starter freshcoast
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Conceptual
Click For Summary

Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the properties of a cannonball immediately after being fired, specifically focusing on whether it possesses qualities such as mass, force, momentum, and kinetic energy. The subject area includes concepts from mechanics and dynamics.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking, Exploratory

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore the definition of momentum and question whether a cannonball can possess momentum when external forces are acting on it. There are attempts to clarify the relationship between momentum and kinetic energy, as well as the role of external forces like gravity and air resistance.

Discussion Status

The discussion is active, with participants questioning definitions and assumptions related to momentum and external forces. Some guidance has been offered regarding the definitions of momentum and kinetic energy, but there is no explicit consensus on the initial problem statement.

Contextual Notes

Participants are examining the implications of external forces on the cannonball's properties, and there is an ongoing exploration of how these forces interact with the concepts of momentum and kinetic energy.

freshcoast
Messages
185
Reaction score
1
1. Problem statement
Immediately after being fired from a cannon, a high speed cannonball does not posses..

a) mass
b) force
c) momentum
d) kinetic energy
e) but, it has all these qualities while moving!

2. Related equations

3. Attempt at solution
I'm thinking the cannon ball does not possesses momentum since there are external forces acting upon the object and if we are just looking at the ball by itself, it is not part of a 2-part system which is needed to have momentum.

Or if that's wrong I think it must have all the qualities because the ball has mass, force came from the cannon thus giving it momentum and it also possesses kinetic energy since the object is moving
 
Physics news on Phys.org
What IS momentum?

And what force acts on the canonball after it has left the barrel?
 
Momentum occurs when a 2-part system's internal forces act upon each other or collide

And the external forces that are acting on the ball after it leaves the cannon would be gravity
 
freshcoast said:
Momentum occurs when a 2-part system's internal forces act upon each other or collide
Really?
What does your textbook define momentum to be?
 
momentum is by Google definition, the quantity of motion of a moving body , measured as a product of its mass and velocity

So does that mean anything that is moving has momentum? Isn't it possible to not have momentum but have kinetic energy?
 
freshcoast said:
momentum is by Google definition, the quantity of motion of a moving body , measured as a product of its mass and velocity

So does that mean anything that is moving has momentum? Isn't it possible to not have momentum but have kinetic energy?
"So does that mean anything that is moving has momentum"
Yes.
"Isn't it possible to not have momentum but have kinetic energy?"
No.
 
freshcoast said:
And the external forces that are acting on the ball after it leaves the cannon would be gravity

What about the air? Does it act on the ball in any way?
 
Air resistance would be a force acting the opposite direction of the cannonball and would cause it to slow down
 

Similar threads

How Does Firing a Cannonball in Space Affect an Astronaut's Rotation?
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
3K
Railway/Cannon - Conservation of Momentum HW Problem
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
2K
An exploding cannon shell
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
1K
Work done during a collision -- Change in Kinetic Energy & change in Momentum
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
How Does Velocity Relate to Kinetic Energy in Projectile Motion?
  • · Replies 22 ·
Replies
22
Views
4K
How Does Firing a Cannonball Affect the Cannon's Velocity?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
5K
Kinetic and potential energy in firing a cannon
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
14K
Mass, acceleration and velocity
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
How do I calculate the time of flight for a horizontally fired cannonball?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Conservation of Momentum: Solving a Cannon Firing Problem
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
4K