Question

Show mathematically why an 80,000-pound (36,000 kg) big rig traveling 2 mph (0.89 m/s) has the SAME MOMENTUM as a 4,000-pound (1,800 kg) sport utility vehicle traveling 40 mph (18 m/s).

Answer 1

Answer: The momentum value for both big rig and sport utility vehicle are the same as 16000 pound mph

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

The equation for momentum is p=mv where p is momentum, m is mass, and v is velocity.

The momentum of the truck is:
p = mv
p = (36,000 kg)(0.89 m/s)
p = 32,000 kg • m/s

p is 32,000 because when multiplying two numbers your answer uses the same amount of sig figs as the number with the lowest amount of sig figs. Here, both the mass and the velocity have 2 SFs so the answer has 2 SFs.

p = mv
p = (1,800 kg)(18 m/s)
p = 32,000 kg • m/s

32,000 = 32,000 so the momentum is equal