1. A woman jumps from a plane carrying a heavy briefcase. She finds when she ope
ID: 1779307 • Letter: 1
Question
1. A woman jumps from a plane carrying a heavy briefcase. She finds when she opens the parachute, the briefcase is ripped from her hand. Explain. If you were to drive a large nail into hard wood with a light hammer, the hammer would bounce up at each blow. How do you explain this? 2. If rain and hailstones are falling at the same mass rate on the roof of a car and strike the roof perpendicularly, we expect the hailstones to cause more damage. Why? (That hailstones are solid while rain is liquid is not the real answer.) 3.Explanation / Answer
(1) When the parachute opens up, the woman is deaccelerated due to the parachute. The briefcase continues to move at the same speed due to inertia and the grip of the person isn't strong enough to counter the inertia of the briefcase.
(2) The hammer would bounce up at each blow because of conservation of momentum. As the hammer is light, the velocity is higher to conserve momentum.
(3) Hailstones make a bigger impact as they are heavier than raindrops and hence have the greater momentum.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.