Exploding Asteroid#

Question Text#

Ximena and Aliyah are both standing in their spaceships, each one moving with a different constant velocity. They carefully watch and measure, from their two spaceships, an asteroid exploding into two parts. Select the correct statement(s).

Answer Section#

Note: You will be awarded full marks only if you select all the correct choices and none of the incorrect choices. Choosing incorrect choices as well as not choosing correct choices will result in deductions.

  • The total momentum vectors they use to describe the asteroid system (both pieces) will be the same.

  • They will both agree on how the kinetic energy of each of the pieces has changed.

  • They will both agree on how the total kinetic energy of the system has changed.

  • The force vector they determine that each piece of the asteroid felt during the explosion will be the same.

  • The change in the momentum vector they determine for each piece of the asteroid before and after the explosion will be the same.

  • The final velocity vectors they use to describe the two asteroid pieces will be the same.

Attribution#

Problem is licensed under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
The Creative Commons 4.0 license requiring attribution-BY, non-commercial-NC, and share-alike-SA license.