A wrecking ball attached to the end of a long, essentially massless chain is released from rest, from a height H = 5 meters off the ground, as shown in figure 1. At the lowest point of its swing, it collides with a piece of modern sculpture. Since the sculpture is made of wet clay, it sticks to the wrecking ball.
The wrecking ball has mass 200 kg. The sculpture has mass 100 kg.
“Mechanical energy” is the sum of potential and kinetic energy.

1. | As the ball swings down from its starting point, its acceleration along the direction of motion:

A. | Stays constant at about 10 m/s

B. | Stays constant at some other value

C. | Increases

D. | Decreases

2. | Neglect air resistance. As the ball swings down from its starting point, but before it collides with the sculpture, the ball's:

A. | Momentum stays the same, and mechanical energy stays the same.

B. | Momentum stays the same, but mechanical energy changes.

C. | Momentum changes, but mechanical energy stays the same.

D. | Momentum changes, and mechanical energy changes.

3. | During the collision between the ball and the sculpture, the mechanical energy of the whole system:

A. | Increases

B. | Stays the same

C. | Decreases

D. | We cannot determine the answer from the given information.

4. | Immediately before colliding with the sculpture, the ball's speed was 10 m/s. Immediately after the collision, the ball's speed is most nearly

A. | 3 m/s

B. | 5 m/s

C. | 7 m/s

D. | 8 m/s

5. | The ball weighs W = 2000 N. Immediately before the ball collided with the sculpture, the tension in the chain was:

A. | zero

B. | positive, but less than 2000 N

C. | 2000 N

D. | greater than 2000 N

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