Why do a player pulls his hands backwards while catching the ball ?

Why does a player pulls his hands backwards while catching a ball?

• It’s time to introduce one another concept of Physics known as momentum. Momentum can be defined as "mass in motion." All objects have mass; so if an object is moving, then it has momentum. When the ball is in motion, it has momentum but when the ball stops in the hands of the player, its momentum becomes zero. Now, rate of change of momentum equals to the force, i.e.
• What it essentially means is, if we want to stop a ball, we need to make its momentum zero in the longest possible time so as to feel the least force (or impact of the ball on the hands). If the player brings the ball to a sudden stop, the ball may hurt him due to high impact force.
• Momentum of an object is equal to the mass of the object times the velocity of the object.
  

Momentum (p)= mass (m) • velocity (v)

• Momentum is a property associated with the motion of a body.
• See a few more examples where momentum plays a major role.
• Among the truck and car which will require a more force to stop?
• Which will require more force to stop if truck and car both running with same velocity?
  

Truck needs more force to stop due to inertia. As truck has more mass than car so truck will require more force than car to stop irrespective of moving with same velocity.