A canoeist in a still pond can reach shore by jerking sharply on the rope attached to the bow of the canoe. How do you ex- plain this? (It really can be done)

Question

Navjyot Kalra · Answer

This can be explained using law of conservation of linear momentum. When the canoeist jerk the rope attached to the bow of canoe, equal but opposite forces act on the rope and the canoe. The force changes the momentum such that the rope moves in a direction opposite to the direction of the canoe.
The rope attached to the bow cannot move however the canoe moves towards the direction of the shore.

Ahmad Ali · Answer

The rope attached to the bow of the canoe, jerk sharply by canocist is an impulsive force which acts opposite to the canoe.The momentum of the canoe through the rope attached to it changes and the canoe moves in the direction of the force.So the canocist reach the shore by sharply jerking the rope.(Here the rope transfers momentum to the boat).

Ahmad Ali · Answer

The momentum is transferred by the jerk(impulsive force)through the rope attached to the canoe.The momentum of the canoe changes.As a result the canoe moves towards the canocist.In this way,the canocist reach the shore by jerking the rope sharply.

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A canoeist in a still pond can reach shore by jerking sharply on the rope attached to the bow of the canoe. How do you ex- plain this? (It really can be done)

A canoeist in a still pond can reach shore by jerking sharply on the rope attached to the bow of the canoe. How do you ex- plain this? (It really can be done)

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