Question

what does the law of the conservation of momentum state? when two objects collide, the systems momentum remains the same. when two objects collide, the systems momentum changes. when two objects collide, they will keep their initial speeds. when two objects collide, they will each keep their initial momenta.

Explanation:

The law of conservation of momentum states that in the absence of external forces, the total momentum of a closed system remains constant. When two objects collide, if we consider them as a system (assuming no external forces act on the system), the total momentum of the system before the collision is equal to the total momentum of the system after the collision.

• For the option “When two objects collide, the system's momentum remains the same”: This is in line with the law of conservation of momentum.
• For the option “When two objects collide, the system's momentum changes”: This is incorrect as per the law of conservation of momentum (assuming no external forces).
• For the option “When two objects collide, they will keep their initial speeds”: This is not what the law of conservation of momentum states. The law is about momentum (which depends on mass and velocity) conservation, not just speed.
• For the option “When two objects collide, they will each keep their initial momenta”: The total momentum is conserved, but individual momenta can change (for example, in an elastic or inelastic collision, the momenta of the individual objects change while the total momentum of the system is conserved).

Answer:

When two objects collide, the system's momentum remains the same.