Question

when a falling firecracker explodes, the momenta of its pieces ______. view available hint(s) is conserved only if the fragments eject in one direction illustrate a case where momentum is not conserved vectorially add up to equal the initial momentum of the firecracker disintegrate submit provide feedback

Explanation:

To solve this, we recall the law of conservation of momentum. In a system with no external net force (like the firecracker and its pieces, where internal forces from the explosion act), the total momentum of the system remains constant. When the firecracker explodes, the internal forces of the explosion act, but there's no external net force (assuming gravity is considered or not, but in the context of momentum conservation for the system of the firecracker's pieces, the explosion is internal). So the vector sum of the momenta of the pieces should equal the initial momentum of the firecracker.

• The first option is wrong because momentum is conserved regardless of the direction of fragments (as long as external forces are negligible), not just when they eject in one direction.
• The second option is wrong because momentum is conserved here (internal forces don't change total momentum of the system).
• The fourth option "Disintegrate" is not related to the momentum of the pieces.

Answer:

C. vectorially add up to equal the initial momentum of the firecracker (assuming the options are labeled A, B, C, D with C being "vectorially add up to equal the initial momentum of the firecracker")