Exercise 3D: Vectors and Motion
Each diagram on page 249 shows the motion of an object in anx−yplane. Each dot is one
location of the object at one moment in time. The time interval from one dot to the next is
always the same, so you can think of the vector that connects one dot to the next as avvector,
and subtract to find ∆vvectors.- Suppose the object in diagram 1 is moving from the top left to the bottom right. Deduce
whatever you can about the force acting on it. Does the force always have the same magnitude?
The same direction?
Invent a physical situation that this diagram could represent.
What if you reinterpret the diagram, and reverse the object’s direction of motion? - What can you deduce about the force that is acting in diagram 2?
Invent a physical situation that diagram 2 could represent. - What can you deduce about the force that is acting in diagram 3?
Invent a physical situation.
248 Chapter 3 Conservation of Momentum