Question

Which would have more momentum, a 50 kg cheetah running at 80 km/h , a 500 kg horse also running at 80 km/h , or a 5000 kg elephant at rest? How do you know?

Answer 1

The horse has the highest momentum among the three animals.

Given the following data:

• Mass of cheetah = 50 kg

• Velocity of cheetah = 80 km/h

• Mass of horse = 500 kg

• Velocity of horse = 80 km/h

• Mass of elephant = 5000 kg

• Velocity of elephant = 0 m/s (Since the elephant is at rest).

In Physics, Momentum can be defined as the multiplication (product) of the mass of a physical object and its velocity.

Basically, momentum is a vector quantity because it has both magnitude and direction.

Mathematically, momentum is given by the formula;

$Momentum = Mass$ × $Velocity$

In this scenario, the momentum of the elephant is zero (0) because the elephant is at rest, meaning it is not in motion.

Furthermore, both the cheetah and horse are having the same velocity of 80 km/h but the horse has a higher mass of 500 kilograms.

Hence, we can deduce that the horse has the highest momentum among the three animals.

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