Question

A bullet was fired from a gun. Choose the correct option for the situation assuming that no external force is acting on the gun-bullet system.

• A. Since the mass of bullet is very less than the mass of the gun, the momentum of bullet is not equal to the momentum of gun.
• B. The momentum of gun is twice the momentum of bullet.
• C. The magnitude of momentum of gun is equal to that of bullet.
• D. During firing, the law of conservation of momentum does not hold true.

Answer 1

The correct option is C

The magnitude of momentum of gun is equal to that of bullet.

The momentum of the bullet and gun system before the firing is zero because both are stationary. When a bullet is fired, the gun recoils in the opposite direction of the bullet.
According to the law of conservation of momentum, the momentum of the bullet-gun system before and after the firing remains the same.

Therefore, the magnitude of the momentum of the gun is equal to that of the bullet, but in the opposite direction to conserve momentum.

In real-life scenarios, a person holds the gun and absorbs the backward momentum of the gun.