Chapter P.2, Problem 18P

Teeing Off

A golf club has a lightweight flexible shaft with a heavy block of wood or metal (called the head of the club) at the end. A golfer making a long shot off the tee uses a driver, a club whose 300 g head is much more massive than the 46 g ball it will hit. The golfer swings the driver so that the club head is moving at 40 m/s just before it collides with the ball. The collision is so rapid that it can be treated as the collision of a moving 300 g mass (the club head) with a stationary 46 g mass (the ball); the shaft of the club and the golfer can be ignored. The collision takes 5.0 ms, and the ball leaves the tee with a speed of 63 m/s.

What is the speed of the club head immediately after the collision?

A. 30 m/s

B. 25 m/s

C. 19 m/s

D. 11 m/s