Two bumper cars at the county fair are sliding toward one another (see figure be
ID: 1550833 • Letter: T
Question
Two bumper cars at the county fair are sliding toward one another (see figure below). Initially, bumper car 1 is traveling to the east at 5.62 m/s, and bumper car 2 is traveling 60.0° south of west at 10.00 m/s. After they collide, bumper car 1 is observed to be traveling to the west with a speed of 3.24 m/s. Friction is negligible between the cars and the ground. (a) If the masses of bumper cars 1 and 2 are 590 kg and 613 kg respectively, what is the velocity of bumper car 2 immediately after the collision? (Express your answer in vector form. Enter your answer to at least three significant figures.) v2 = (b) What is the kinetic energy lost in the collision
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Explanation / Answer
We will apply conservation of momentum here
lets take east along +ve X-axis and north along +ve Y-axis
Please remember that momentum and velocity are both vector quantities.
initial velocity of car 1 = 5.62i
initial velocity of car 2 = -10cos60i - 10sin60j = -5i - 5*(31/2)j
initial momentum = m1v1 + m2v2 = 590*(5.62i) + 613( - 5i - 5*(31/2)j )
This initial momentum will be equal to final momentum due to conservation of momentum law
final momentum = m1v1 + m2v2 = 590*(-3.24i) + 613*v2 = 590*(5.62i) + 613( - 5i - 5*(31/2)j )
velocity of bumper car 2 after collision = v2 = 3.527i - 5*(31/2)j = 3.527i - 8.660j
kinetic energy lost = initial energy - final energy = (1/2)*590*(5.62^2) + (1/2)*613*100 - (1/2)*590*(3.24^2) - (1/2)*613*(v2)
using pythogoras theorem v2 = 3.5272 + 8.6602 = 87.435
energy lost = 9317.398 + 30650 - 3096.792 - 26798.827 = 10071.779J
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