Figure 8 shows a girl bowling a ball along a ten-pin bowling lane - AQA - GCSE Physics Combined Science - Question 4 - 2020 - Paper 2

The bowling ball decelerates due to the resistive force that acts on it, such as friction or air resistance. This force opposes the direction of the ball's motion, resulting in a decrease in its speed. Another reason is that work is done on the ball as it travels along the lane, which reduces its kinetic energy.

The equation that links mass (m), momentum (p), and velocity (v) is given by:

$p = m \cdot v$

or alternatively,

$m = \frac{p}{v}$

Using the momentum formula:

$p = m \cdot v$

We can rearrange this to find the mass:

$m = \frac{p}{v}$

Substituting the values:

$m = \frac{26 \text{ kg m/s}}{5.0 \text{ m/s}} = 5.2 \text{ kg}$

Thus, the mass of the bowling ball is 5.2 kg.

The bowling ball slows down upon hitting the pin due to the conservation of momentum in the collision. When the ball collides with the pin, it exerts a force on the pin, causing the pin to accelerate. Since the total momentum must remain constant (assuming no external forces), the momentum of the ball must decrease to allow the pin to gain momentum. Consequently, the ball loses speed as it transfers some of its momentum to the pin, which results in the ball slowing down.