Question

Truck 1 is driving along a highway road has a large quantity of momentum. If truck 2 is matching its velocity but has only half the mass, its momentum is?

Answer 1

We will have that the momentum for both cars is respectively:

`\begin{cases}t_1\colon p=m\cdot v \\ \\ t_2\colon_{}p=(m\cdot v)/(2)\end{cases}`

So, the momentrum for the second car is half the momentum for the first car.

***Explanation***

We remember that momentum is given by:

`p=m\cdot v`

Here "p" is the momentum, "m" is the mass and "v" the velocity.

Now, for truck 1 we will have that the momentum will be:

`p_1=m_1\cdot v`

Here "m1" is the mass of the first truck.

Now, for truck 2 we have that it has half the mass of truck one, so the momentum will be given by:

`p_2=((m_1)/(2))\cdot v\Rightarrow p_2=(m_1\cdot v)/(2)\Rightarrow p_2=(p_1)/(2)`

So, the momentum of truck 2 is half the momentum of the first truck.