Question

A hammer of mass 500 g, moving at 50 ms ^-1 , strikes a nail. The nail stops the hammer in a very short time of 0.01 s. What is the force of the nail on the hammer?

Answer 1

Mass of the hammer, m= 500 g = 0.5 kg 

Initial velocity of the hammer, u= 50 m/s 

Time taken by the nail to the stop the hammer, t = 0.01 s 

Velocity of the hammer, v= 0 (since the hammer finally comes to rest) 

From Newton's second law of motion:

The hammer strikes the nail with a force of - 2500 N. Hence, from Newton's third law of motion, the force of the nail on the hammer is equal and opposite, i.e., +2500 N.