Question

A fully dressed person is at rest in the middle of a frictionless ice rink. The person throws a heavy ball in one direction. According to the law of conservation of momentum, what will happen?

A) The person and the ball will move in opposite directions with equal speeds.
B) The person will move in the direction opposite to that of the thrown ball.
C) The person will remain at rest, and only the ball will move.
D) The person and the ball will move together in the direction of the thrown ball.
E) The person and the ball will rotate around their center of mass.

Answer 1

When a person on a frictionless ice rink throws a ball in one direction, they will move in the opposite direction due to the conservation of momentum.

Step-by-step explanation:

According to the law of conservation of momentum, when a fully dressed person at rest in the middle of a frictionless ice rink throws a heavy ball in one direction, they will experience a reaction in the opposite direction. Specifically, the correct answer to what will happen is B) The person will move in the direction opposite to that of the thrown ball. It is important to note that the person and the ball will not move at equal speeds; rather, their velocities will be inversely proportional to their masses due to the conservation of momentum. The person remains stationary until they throw the ball, which is an external force that activates the law of motion where every action has an equal and opposite reaction.