Question

In T-ball, batters hit a ball that is placed on a T-shaped stand. Batter A hits the ball by swinging the bat from a resting position on his shoulder. Batter B hits the ball with the bat directly behind it. In one or two sentences, create and justify a claim about which batter will likely hit the ball the greater distance.

A musician hits a drum with a drumstick. In three to four sentences, explain the collision forces between the drum and drumstick.

Answer 1

Batter A will likely hit the ball farther. Starting the swing from the shoulder gives a longer path and more time to accelerate the bat, producing a higher bat speed at impact and therefore transferring more kinetic energy to the ball than a bat placed directly behind the ball with a much shorter acceleration distance.

When the stick strikes the drumhead it applies a large, brief contact force that deforms the head; by Newton’s third law the drumhead applies an equal and opposite force to the stick. That time-varying contact force (an impulse) changes the momentum of both stick and head, and the restoring force of the stretched drumhead converts that impulse into vibrational modes that radiate sound. Some kinetic energy is returned to the stick (causing rebound) while some is dissipated as heat and internal damping, so the collision is partially inelastic.