Chapter 8, Problem 51A

What difference in recoil would you expect in firing a solid ball versus firing a hollow ball from the same cannon? Explain.

To determine

The difference in recoil in firing a solid ball and firing a hollow ball from the same canon.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

According to law of conservation of momentum, the total momentum of cannon and cannonball is zero.Recoil is the backward motion of an object when it collides with the other objects.

The force on the canon ball inside the canon is equal and opposite to force on the cannon to recoil.Momentum is mass times the velocity of an object.

As cannon exerts same force on the cannon ball, it fires the both solid and hollow ball with same velocity.As the mass of the solid ball is large compared to the hollow ball, it has large momentum than the hollow ball. So,for solid ball the cannon will recoil more than the hollow ball.

Conclusion:

For solid ball recoil of cannon is more than the hollow ball.