You have been brought into a court case as an expert witness. A satellite is kno

Question

You have been brought into a court case as an expert witness. A satellite is known to have exploded into three pieces, A, B, and C. mA = 1000 kg, mB = 500 kg, and mC = 500 kg. Telemetry data showed that at a particular time the positions of the satellite with respect to a known reference position O were r A/O = (400i ? 1000 j ) m, r B / O = 1000 j m, and r C/O = (800i + 1000 j ) m. The respective velocities were vA = ?500 j m/s, vB = (?400i + 500 j ) m/s, and vC = (400i + 500 j ) m/s. The defense claims that a single explosion caused the described con?guration, whereas the prosecution contends that at least two separate explosions were responsible. Who is correct?

Explanation / Answer

Assuming satellite is initially at rest.If it is a single explosion had taken place Total momentum should be conserved.It impiles total final momentum =0

taking i direction into consideration. -1000*500 +-500 * 400 +500 *400 which is -500000 and not equal to zero.
So there will be definetely two seperate explosions happened for resultant condition to happen.

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