Physics (10th Edition)

Published by Wiley
ISBN 10: 1118486897
ISBN 13: 978-1-11848-689-4

Chapter 7 - Impulse and Momentum - Check Your Understanding - Page 177: 2

Answer

The total linear momentum of this group is 0 at any given instant.

Work Step by Step

Momentum is a vector and can be found using this formula: $$\vec{p}=m\vec{v}$$ The people standing still already have zero momentum. For the people walking around, if we take a person A with mass $m_A$ and velocity $\vec{v_A}$, it is very likely that there is a person $B$ with mass $m_B=m_A$ and velocity $\vec{v_B}=-\vec{v_A}$. These two make $\vec{p_A}+\vec{p_B}=0$ Continue thinking like that and we end up finding that the total linear momentum of this group is 0 at any given instant.
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