It is a common example to find the recoil momentum of the gun when the bullet is fired. Last time I felt uncomfortable when I was explaining linear momentum to a student - how can I talk about guns in class.
Its a difficult thing to teach. Try other examples. I'm thinking and following
I also tried to avoid using violent examples in my physics classes, for momentum and other topics. For “explosion” style conservation of momentum problems I used examples like: (1) people on roller skates / ice skates / skateboards pushing off of each other, (2) an astronaut in space tossing a wrench off into space to float back to their space shuttle, (3) carts with a compressed spring between then that pops open, or (3) a plate falls and shatters into exactly two pieces when it hits the ground, knowing how one piece moves off from the point of impact, how does the other. I expand the last example into multiple pieces when we go to 2 dimensions. For projectile motion, I often have a clown shot out of a cannon; you could have recoil for a clown shot straight ahead out of a cannon (on wheels). Hope these examples help some. Best wishes with your class, Shahid. ~ Kevin
Thanks Kevin, you gave me so many good examples. It means it is possible to avoid violent examples.
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