Ony way of measuring the muzzle velocity of a bullet is to fire it horizontally

Question

Ony way of measuring the muzzle velocity of a bullet is to fire it horizontally into a massive block of wood placed on a cart. Assuming no friction, we then measure the velocity with which the wood (containing the bullet) starts to move. In one experiment the bullet had a mass of 41 g and the wood and its cart had a mass of 20 kg. After the shot, a stopwatch was used to determine that the cart, wood and bullet moved at a constant velocity, traveling 0.9 m in 0.4 s. What was the original speed of the bullet?

Explanation / Answer

It it easy to see that the final velocity of the cart and bullet is 2m/s (1m/0.5s) -The mass of the bullet and cart would be 19.05kg -The initial speed of the cart and wood was zero Knowing this information the problem becomes a conservation of momentum. Momentum Before= Momentum After vbullet(0.050kg) = (19.05kg)(2m/s) 0.050vbullet= 38.1 kg*m/s vbullet= 762m/s

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