A railroad diesel engine weighs four times as much as a | StudySoup

Textbook Solutions for Conceptual Physics

Chapter 6 Problem 34TAS

Question

A railroad diesel engine weighs four times as much as a freight car. If the diesel engine coasts at 5 km/h into a freight car initially at rest, show that the speed of the coupled engine and car is 4 km/h.

Solution

Step 1 of 4

Let  be the mass of the freight car, and  the mass of the diesel engine, and  the speed after both have coupled together. Before collision, the total momentum is due only to the diesel engine,  , because the momentum of the freight car is 0 . After collision, the combined mass is , and combined momentum is .

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full solution

Title Conceptual Physics 12 
Author Paul G. Hewitt
ISBN 9780321909107

A railroad diesel engine weighs four times as much as a

Chapter 6 textbook questions

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