Two identical billiard balls hit a rigid wall at the same speed and bounce back with no change in speed. The first hits the wall perpendicular to it. The second hits the wall at 30 degrees from the perpendicular and leaves at the same angle. What is the ratio of the impulse magnitude on the first ball to the impulse magnitude on the second ball?

1. For the first ball, only the perpendicular component of momentum reverses, giving an impulse magnitude of 2mu. 2. For the second ball, only the perpendicular component, mu cos 30 degrees, reverses, giving an impulse magnitude of 2mu cos 30 degrees. 3. The ratio of the first ball's impulse to the second ball's impulse is 2mu divided by 2mu cos 30 degrees, which simplifies to 1 divided by cos 30 degrees. 4. Since cos 30 degrees is about 0.866, that ratio works out to about 1.155. 5. The parallel component of the second ball's momentum, along the wall, does not reverse at all, so it contributes nothing to either impulse. 6. Since the two balls experience different impulses, the ratio cannot simply be 1. _Source: OpenStax College Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 8 "Linear Momentum and Collisions", section 8.2 Impulse_