During winter break, we got a tree and decorated it with ornaments and lights. While I was putting the ornaments on, I accidentally hit the tree and one of the ornaments fell. These ornaments were my grandma's and they are really old and fragile. Luckily our tree is on a carpeted area so when the ornament fell, it didn't break. But if the ornament had fell on the hard floor, it would have shattered into pieces. I realized that this was totally related to physics. When a net force is applied to an object to change its velocity and momentum, then it is an impulse (J). In physics, there is a formula for impulse J = F x t (impulse= force x time). Impulse also equals change of momentum. The change of momentum of the ornament would be the same on the hard floor and the carpet because the mass is the same and the change in velocity would be the same. The reason why the ornament didn't break was because the time of impact was extended therefore decreasing the force. The carpet was a cushion that increased the time it took for the ornament's velocity to reach zero. Thanks to physics, my grandma's ornament didn't break.
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