Why does a rubber ball transfer more forward momentum as the ball rebounds off a…

Why does a rubber ball transfer more forward momentum as the ball rebounds off an object?

As the ball hits a wall and stops, it transfers its forward momentum to the wall. The ball pushes the wall forward for a certain time and thus provides a forward impulse to the wall. As the ball rebounds from the wall, it also pushes the wall forward for a certain time and thus provides an additional forward impulse to the wall. The ball ends up traveling in the opposite direction from that which it had initially, so its momentum points in the opposite direction. This reversal of momentum required an enormous transfer of forward momentum to the wall; so large that the ball actually ended up with a negative amount of forward momentum (which is equivalent to a positive amount of backward momentum).

Leave a Reply