Answer to Question #96468 in Mechanics | Relativity for Mercedes Stanback

Question

Would you rather catch an egg over a long period of time or short period of time? Explain your answer using impulse

Answer 1

Let's write down the Newton's second law

$$\vec F = {{d\vec p} \over {dt}}$$

We can approximately write differentials as small differences (and let's work with magnitudes)

$$\left| {\vec F} \right| \approx {{\left| {\Delta \vec p} \right|} \over {\Delta t}}$$

The impulse change ${\left| {\Delta \vec p} \right|}$ is fixed in our problem (it depends on the velocity of the egg and it's mass) because the final impulse of the egg (after catching) $\left| {\vec p} \right| = 0$. We need to make $\left| {\vec F} \right|$ as small as possible to protect the egg from breaking, so we should make $\Delta t$ as big as possible. That means we should catch an egg over a long period of time.