Two objects, x and y, move toward one another and eventually collide. object x has a mass of 2m and is moving at a speed of 2v0 to the right before the collision. object y has a mass of m and is moving at a speed of v0 to the left before the collision. what describes the magnitude of the forces f the objects exert on each other when they collide?

where '-' sign indicates that the object moves to the left.

In a collision, the change in the momentum with respect to time is equal to the applied force. The difference in the momentum is

Δ

If we knew the duration of the collision, we would calculate the force applied to either of the objects. According to the Newton's third law, two objects would be exerted the same force.

So,

Explanation:

Let's assume that the first object is at rest, and the second object crashes it with a velocity of . The first object feels a force of depending on the time of the collision.

Now let's assume that the first object is also moving towards to second object with the same speed, . This time the first object feels twice the force that it felt in the first case.

This logic tells us that in order to find out the force exerted on the objects during a collision, we should calculate the change in the momentum, and divide it to the time duration of the collision.