6/7/2015

MasteringPhysics:AssignmentWeek5

Item9
LearningGoal:
Tounderstandthevectornatureofmomentuminthecaseinwhichtwoobjectscollideandsticktogether.
Inthisproblemwewillconsideracollisionoftwomovingobjectssuchthatafterthecollision,theobjectssticktogetherandtraveloffasasingleunit.The
collisionisthereforecompletelyinelastic.
Youhaveprobablylearnedthat"momentumisconserved"inaninelasticcollision.Buthowdoesthisfacthelpyoutosolvecollisionproblems?Thefollowing
questionsshouldhelpyoutoclarifythemeaningandimplicationsofthestatement"momentumisconserved."

PartA
Whatphysicalquantitiesareconservedinthiscollision?
ANSWER:
themagnitudeofthemomentumonly
thenetmomentum(consideredasavector)only
themomentumofeachobjectconsideredindividually

PartB
Twocarsofequalmasscollideinelasticallyandsticktogetherafterthecollision.Beforethecollision,theirspeedsarev1 andv2 .Whatisthespeedof
thetwocarsystemafterthecollision?
Youdidnotopenhintsforthispart.
ANSWER:

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MasteringPhysics:AssignmentWeek5
v1 + v2
v1 v2
v2 v1

v1 v2
v1 +v2
2

v1 2 + v2 2

Theanswerdependsonthedirectionsinwhichthecarsweremovingbeforethecollision.

PartC
Twocarscollideinelasticallyandsticktogetherafterthecollision.Beforethecollision,themagnitudesoftheirmomentaarep1 andp2 .Afterthe
collision,whatisthemagnitudeoftheircombinedmomentum?
Youdidnotopenhintsforthispart.
ANSWER:
p1 + p2
p1 p2
p2 p1

p1 p2
p +p
1

p1 2 + p2 2

Theanswerdependsonthedirectionsinwhichthecarsweremovingbeforethecollision.

PartD
Twocarscollideinelasticallyandsticktogetherafterthecollision.Beforethecollision,theirmomentaarep 1 andp 2 .Afterthecollision,theircombined

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MasteringPhysics:AssignmentWeek5

momentumisp .Ofwhatcanonebecertain?

Youdidnotopenhintsforthispart.
ANSWER:

p = p1 + p2

p = p1 p2

p = p2 p1

PartE
Twocarscollideinelasticallyandsticktogetherafterthecollision.Beforethecollision,themagnitudesoftheirmomentaarep1 andp2 .Afterthe
collision,themagnitudeoftheircombinedmomentumisp.Ofwhatcanonebecertain?
Youdidnotopenhintsforthispart.
ANSWER:

p1 + p2 p p1 p2

p1 + p2 p

p1 + p2
2

p1 + p2 p | p1 p2 |

2
2
p1 + p2 p p1 + p2

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