use Newton’s laws to explain why a cannon rolls backward after shooting a cannonball forwards.
As the cannonball is pushed forwards by the expanding high-pressure gases created by the exploding gunpowder, it pushes back on these gases. The gases push back on the cannon itself, causing it to roll backwards.
alternative answer: the cannon pushes forward on the cannonball. the reaction force is the cannonball pushing backwards on the cannon.
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According to Newton's laws of motion, the cannon rolling backward after shooting a cannonball can be explained as follows:
First Law (Law of Inertia): An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force.
When the cannonball is shot forward, it experiences a significant forward force due to the expanding gases from the explosion. This force causes the cannonball to accelerate forward, following Newton's second law.
Second Law (Law of Acceleration): The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass. It can be mathematically represented as F = ma, where F is the net force, m is the mass of the object, and a is the acceleration.
The cannon, initially at rest, has a greater mass compared to the cannonball. Due to this, the forward force on the cannonball causes it to accelerate forward. However, as the cannonball moves forward, Newton's third law comes into play.
Third Law (Action-Reaction): For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
As the cannonball is propelled forward with a significant force, an equal and opposite force is exerted backward on the cannon. This reactive force pushes the cannon in the opposite direction with a smaller but noticeable force.
Since the cannon has a larger mass than the cannonball, it experiences a smaller acceleration in the opposite direction due to the recoil force. This results in the cannon rolling backward after shooting the cannonball forwards.
It is important to note that the backward motion of the cannon is a consequence of the conservation of momentum. The momentum gained by the cannonball in the forward direction is equal in magnitude but opposite in direction to the momentum gained by the cannon in the backward direction.
Newton's laws of motion can definitely help explain why a cannon rolls backward after shooting a cannonball forward.
First, let's start with Newton's First Law, also known as the law of inertia. It states that an object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion with the same speed and direction unless acted upon by an external force.
When a cannon is fired, the expanding hot gases from the combustion of the gunpowder exert a force on the cannonball, causing it to move forward with a significant speed. Now, according to Newton's Third Law, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, as the cannonball is propelled forward, an equal and opposite force is exerted on the cannon itself in the opposite direction.
This brings us to Newton's Second Law, which states that the force acting on an object is equal to its mass times its acceleration (F = ma). In this case, the force acting on the cannonball causes it to accelerate forward. However, the cannon itself, being much heavier than the cannonball, experiences a backward force that causes it to accelerate in the opposite direction.
Since the cannonball's mass is relatively small compared to the cannon, the acceleration experienced by the cannon is significantly greater. This means that the cannon accelerates backward at a higher rate than the cannonball accelerates forward. As a result, the cannon rolls backward as a consequence of the equal and opposite forces acting on it and the cannonball.
So, in summary, the cannonball's forward motion creates an equal and opposite backward force on the cannon due to Newton's Third Law. The larger mass of the cannon results in a greater acceleration in the opposite direction, causing the cannon to roll backward.