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Which has more momentum: a large parked car or a slow moving feather?

2 Answers

10 votes

Final answer:

A slow moving feather has more momentum than a parked car because the car's velocity is zero, making its momentum zero, while the moving feather has both mass and velocity, yielding a non-zero momentum.

Step-by-step explanation:

Momentum is defined as the product of an object's mass and its velocity. When comparing the momentum of a large parked car and a slow moving feather, it's important to note that momentum depends on both mass and velocity. A large parked car has no velocity and thus has no momentum. However, a feather that is moving, irrespective of its speed, has momentum since both its mass and velocity are non-zero.

User Mohsin Husen
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10 votes

Answer: Slow moving feather

The parked car has 0 velocity since it is stationary. The momentum of the car is 0 because momentum = mass*velocity.

On the other hand, the feather is moving, so its velocity is some positive value. Even if it's a small velocity value and the mass of the feather is small, the two will multiply to some positive momentum which is larger than 0.

So the feather has larger momentum compared to the parked car.

User Eamorr
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