As shown in the figure below, cars #1 and #2 are sliding across a horizontal fri

Question

As shown in the figure below, cars #1 and #2 are sliding across a horizontal frictionless surface. The cars are equipped with a coupling arrangement similar to the one on railroad cars. Car #1 overtakes car #2 and they have a totally inelastic collision and become coupled together. You know the mass of each car; m1 = 11.0 kg and m2 = 44.0 kg. In addition, you are provided with the following graph, which shows the momentum of car #1 before, during and after the collision. Determine the velocity of car #2 before the collision.

Explanation / Answer

From the graph we can found that car1 of mass-m1=11kg has momentum, p = 100 kg·m/s, before collision

Momentum, p=mass*velocity
so its velocity, v1 = 100kg·m/s / 11kg = 9.09 m/s

after collision, v2=40kgm/s/11kg=3.63m/s-so the post collision velocity of car2 is also 3.63m/s

According to conservation of momentum, m1v1+m2v2=pfinal

pfinal =40kgm/s+44kg*3.63m/s =199.72kg.m/s

99.99+44v2=199.72

v2=2.26m/s

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