The Olympic hammer throw is a throwing event where the object is to throw a heavy metal ball attached to a wire and handle. The name hammer throw comes from an older contest where men threw a sledge hammer. The hammers have different weights, ranging from 16 pounds down to 8 pounds.

Question

Imagine there are four hammers to throw: 16, 12, 10, and 8 pounds. If you throw each hammer with the same amount of force, which hammer will move the shortest distance?

A 8 pounds
B 10 pounds
C 12 pounds
D 16 pounds

Answer 1

To determine which hammer will move the shortest distance when thrown with the same amount of force, we can use the basic principle from physics that relates force, mass, and acceleration. According to Newton's second law of motion (F = ma), where F is force, m is mass, and a is acceleration, we can rearrange this to find acceleration:

\[ a = \frac{F}{m} \]

If the same force is applied to each hammer, the acceleration of each hammer will be inversely proportional to its mass. This means that as the mass of the hammer increases, the acceleration will decrease.

In this case:

• For the 8-pound hammer, it has the least mass and therefore will experience the greatest acceleration.
• For the 16-pound hammer, it has the most mass and therefore will experience the least acceleration.

Since distance traveled is also influenced by acceleration, the hammer with the most mass (16 pounds in this case) will move the shortest distance when thrown with the same force.

So the correct answer is:

D. 16 pounds