If a body strikes a rigid wall with some velocity making an angle theta with the normal and bounces back with the same velocity then the angle made with the normal will be same or not?
1 Answer
Jan 14, 2018
I accept the comment made by A08 below, however I think the problem is the imprecision of the teachers’ (textbook’s?) language.
Explanation:
If we assume that the question should have read “bounces back with the same speed” not velocity, and that there is either no spin on the ball, or no friction between the ball & wall, then we can state that the velocity vector will be at an equal angle to the normal.
The process being described is reflection, and a useful conversation could be had with the person who set the question (provided they are unlikely to be offended by it) regarding their use of terms, the assumptions that remain implicit, the situations where this would not be true etc.
