Final answer:
The best explanation for why the Law is not broken when a hammer hits a bowling ball is that momentum is conserved within the system - the mallet's loss is the ball's gain.
Step-by-step explanation:
The best explanation for why the Law is not broken when a mallet hits a bowling ball is that momentum is conserved in the system. This is reflected in option c. The mallet loses as much momentum as the bowling ball gained. In other words, the total momentum of the system before and after the collision remains the same. This is consistent with the Law of Conservation of Momentum, which states that in the absence of external forces, the total momentum of a system remains constant.
Furthermore, when considering scenarios such as a disk striking a stick or collisions between cars, it's important to remember that no object can exert force on itself. Once an external force stops acting on an object, like a hand no longer being in contact with a bowling ball, the object will continue moving due to inertia. Angular momentum, similar to linear momentum, is conserved when there is no external net torque acting on a system. Hence, the total momentum (including angular momentum in cases of rotation) is conserved as long as we account for all parts of the system and no external forces interfere.