Question

Is something wrong with the following statement? "When a baseball is hit with a bat, there are equal and opposite forces on the bat and baseball, and the forces then cancel, and there is no motion." a) Yes, it violates Newton's third law of motion. b) No, it accurately describes the physics of the situation. c) Yes, it contradicts the law of conservation of momentum. d) No, it explains the phenomenon correctly.

Answer 1

The statement is incorrect as it misinterprets Newton's third law of motion. The equal and opposite forces when a baseball is hit by a bat do not cancel because they are acting on different objects, causing both to move.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's statement is incorrect and reflects a misunderstanding of Newton's third law of motion. According to this law, when a baseball is hit by a bat, there are indeed equal and opposite forces exerted on the two objects. However, the forces do not cancel out in a way that results in no motion. Instead, these forces act on different objects: the force from the bat acts on the baseball, and the force from the baseball acts on the bat. Since the forces are acting on different objects, they cannot cancel each other out, and thus motion is still produced in both the bat and the ball.

The correct answer to the student's question is (a) Yes, it violates Newton's third law of motion. When identifying the system of interest, we can see that if we consider the baseball and bat separately, each will experience forces that influence their respective motions after the collision. For example, the bat slows down and may vibrate as it incurs a force from the ball, whereas the baseball accelerates in the opposite direction from the force applied by the bat.