A 0.550 kg ball falls directly down onto concrete, hitting it with a speed of 12.0 m/s and rebounding directly upward with a speed of 3.00 m/s. Extend a y axis upward. In unit-vector notation, what are (a) the change in the ball’s momentum, (b) the impulse on the ball, and (c) the impulse on the concrete?
(a) The change in momentum (taking upwards to be the positive direction) is
\Delta \vec{p}=(0.550 \,kg )[(3 \,m / s ) \hat{j}-(-12 \,m / s ) \hat{j}]=(+8.25 \,kg\ m / s ) \hat{j}.
(b) By the impulse-momentum theorem (Eq. 9-31) \vec{J}=\Delta \vec{p}=(+8.25 N s ) \hat{j}
\Delta \vec{p}=\vec{J} (linear momentum–impulse theorem). (9-31)
(c) By Newton’s third law, \overrightarrow{J_c}=-\overrightarrow{J_b}=(-8.25\, N s ) \hat{j}.