a large bedsheet is held verticallyy by two students. A third student who happens to be the star pitcher on the baseball team, throws a raw egg at the sheet. explain why the egg doesn't break when it hits the sheet, regardless of its initial speed.

Answer 1

Assume that the bed sheet is of light material and deflects a lot when the egg hits it in the middle.
Force = momentum change / time change = m delta v / delta t ---> m a
The force on the egg is the
mass of the egg * speed of egg when it hits / time to stop

the time to stop is the stopping distance /average speed during stop which is half the initial speed

so if stopping distance is d, initial speed is v and egg mass m then
F = m v / [ d/.5 v ] = .5 m v^2/d

(this is of course just the same as saying the work done by the sheet on the egg is the change in kinetic energy of the egg)

The bigger d, the stopping distance, the smaller the force F.