Ankit and Rehman are two friends who live in the same colony. Ankit studies in class IX whereas Rehman is a student of class VII. One day, both Ankit and Rehman were playing cricket with other boys of the colony in the bid ground just outside their colony. At the moment, Ankit and Rehman were standing at two different fielding positions. When batsman hit the ball hard, it went very fast towards Rehman. Rehman stopped and caught the fast moving cricket ball but his hands were hurt badly in stopping the ball. The severe pain in the hands of Rehman made him drop the catch. Next moment, th bastman again hit the ball hard. This time the fast moving ball went straight towards the direction of Ankit. Ankit stopped and caught the fast ball in a particular way without hurting his hands at all. While coming back home after playing cricket, Ankit explained the proper way of catching a fast cricket ball to Rehman without getting the hands hurt. Keeping this advice in mind, Rehman never hurt his hands again while playing cricket.
(a) Which physical quantity is vert large in a fast moving cricket ball having high speed?
(b) In what way do you think Rehman stopped and caught the fast cricket ball which hurt his hands?
(c) Why were Rehman's hands hurt in stopping and catching the fast cricket ball in this way?
(d) In what way do you think Ankit stopped and caught the fast cricket ball without hurting his hands?
(e) Why were Ankit's hands not hurt in stopping and catching the fast cricket ball in this way?
(f) Which law of motion is involved in catching a fast cricket ball?
(g) What values are displayed by Ankit in this episode?

Explanation

(a) A fast moving cricket ball has a large 'momentum'.
(b) Rehman must have stopped (or caught) the fast moving cricket ball suddenly, keeping his hands stationary. Then the large momentum of the fast ball was reduced to zero in a very short time. Due to this, the rate of change of momentum of cricket ball was very large and hence it exerted a large force on Rehman's hands. This large force hurt his hands.
(d) Ankit must have moved his hands backwards gradullay (on catching, the fast cricket ball).
(e) When Ankit moves back his hands gradually on catching a fast ball, then the time taken to reduce the large momentum of fast ball to zero was increased. Due to more time taken to stop the fast ball, the rate of change of momentum of ball was decreased and hence a small force was exerted on the hands of Ankit. This small force did not hurt Ankit's hands.
(f) Newton's second law of motion.
(g) The values displayed by Ankit in this episode are (i) Awareness (or knowledge) of Newton's second law of motion (ii) Application of knowledge in everyday situations, and (iii) Concern for the safety of his friend.