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Chapter 7: Q5Q (page 170)

Explain, on the basis of conservation of momentum, how a fish propels itself forward by swishing its tail back and forth.

Short Answer

Expert verified

While swishing back and forth, the fish moves forward and displaces water backward away from it.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding conservation of momentum

According to the principle of conservation of momentum, the total momentum in an isolated system remains conserved.

02

Determining the direction of motion of fish

When a fish moves in water by swishing its tail back and forth, some water flows backward. The water near the fish's tail acquires momentum in the backward direction and pushes the fish forward. In this case, the fish and the water are considered a system in which momentum is conserved.

From the conservation of momentum, the fish acquires an equal and opposite momentum in the forward direction. So, the fish moves forward as it swishes its tail in the back and forth direction.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Car A hits car B (initially at rest and of equal mass) from behind while going\(38\;{\rm{m/s}}\). Immediately after the collision, car B moves forward at\(15\;{\rm{m/s}}\)and car A is at rest. What fraction of the initial kinetic energy is lost in the collision?

(a) Calculate the impulse experienced when a 55-kg person lands on firm ground after jumping from a height of 2.8 m.

(b) Estimate the average force exerted on the person’s feet by the ground if the landing is stiff-legged, and again

(c) with bent legs. With stiff legs, assume the body moves 1.0 cm during impact, and when the legs are bent, about 50 cm. [Hint: The average net force on him, which is related to impulse, is the vector sum of gravity and the force exerted by the ground. See Fig. 7–34.] We will see in Chapter 9 that the force in (b) exceeds the ultimate strength of bone (Table 9–2).

FIGURE 7-34 Problem 24.

A 144-g baseball moving 28.0 m/s strikes a stationary 5.25-kg brick resting on small rollers so it moves without significant friction. After hitting the brick, the baseball bounces straight back, and the brick moves forward at 1.10 m/s.

(a) What is the baseball's speed after the collision?

(b) Find the total kinetic energy before and after the collision.

(I) The distance between a carbon atom \(\left( {{\bf{m = 12}}\;{\bf{u}}} \right)\) and an oxygen atom \(\left( {{\bf{m = 16}}\;{\bf{u}}} \right)\) in the CO molecule is \({\bf{1}}{\bf{.13 \times 1}}{{\bf{0}}^{{\bf{10}}}}\;{\bf{m}}\) How far from the carbon atom is the center of mass of the molecule?

An internal explosion breaks an object, initially at rest, into two pieces, one of which has 1.5 times the mass of the other. If 5500 J is released in the explosion, how much kinetic energy does each piece acquire?
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