A tennis ball of mass approaches a player horizontally with a speed of
PHYSICS · Multi-part · AP · Physics 1: Algebra-based · Linear Momentum · Linear Momentum
Problem
A tennis ball of mass 60g approaches a player horizontally with a speed of 22ms−1. The player catches the ball, bringing it to rest in 0.05s.
(i) Calculate the magnitude of the average force exerted by the player on the ball during the catch.
(ii) Explain qualitatively how the average force would change if the player allowed the ball to come to rest over a longer time interval without altering the change in momentum.
(iii) If instead the player returned the ball along the original line of motion with the same speed of 22ms−1 but in the opposite direction, describe with reasons how the area under a qualitative force–time curve for this return shot would differ from that in part (i).