Question

a rifle is used during the biathlon event in the Olympics the rifle has a mass of 2.5 kg the bullet has amass of 0.02 kg after that shot the bullet travels at a speed of 525 m/s what is the total momentum of the rifle bullet system before the bullet is shot?

Answer 1

The momentum before is zero because nothing is moving. Note that because momentum is a conserved vector, the total momentum after the shot is also zero. You just have to add the products of mass and velocity in opposite directions. So the answer is zero

Answer 2

the momentum of the system must be ZERO just before the bullet is shot

Step-by-step explanation:

As we know that initially the bullet is inside the gun with stationary condition

So here we can say that gun and bullet was both at rest initially

so we have

`P = m_1v_1 + m_2v_2`

since both are at rest so we have

`v_1 = v_2 = 0`

so total momentum of the system will be

`P = 0`

So the momentum of the system must be ZERO just before the bullet is shot