Bill is standing at rest on a frozen pond (assume a frictionless surface) and ne

Question

Bill is standing at rest on a frozen pond (assume a frictionless surface) and needs to get to shore. To do this, his friend Pete throws a heavy ball at Bill. When the ball reaches Bill, the ball has a speed vball and is traveling parallel to the surface of the pond. Which situation will allow Bill to reach the shore in the least amount of time? (a) Bill catches the ball and holds onto it (b) Bill catches the ball and immediately drops it (c) Bill catches the ball and throws it back to Pete at speed vball

The correct answer is C. Please explain how you arrived at your answer.

Explanation / Answer

When Bill catches the ball ,he will move closer to the shore to conserve linear momentum . If he also throw the ball back to Pete he will move again because of the recoil velocity (This is also due to conservation of linear momentum) Thus in the case c , the velocity will be greater and the time to reach a distance will be minimum compared to all other cases

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