Question

A shell at rest explodes. The centre of mass of the fragments.

• A. Moves along a parabolic path
• B. Moves along a straight line
• C. Moves along an elliptical path
• D. Remains at rest

Answer 1

The correct option is D Remains at rest

As the shell is initially at rest and explosion is under internal forces only, so linear momentum of the system is conserved.
Since, linear momentum of the shell was zero initially, so linear momentum of the centre of mass is also zero after explosion. Therefore centre of mass of the fragments remains at rest.