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Solved: Professional Application Two cars collide at an
Chapter 8, Problem 50(choose chapter or problem)
Problem 50PE
Professional Application Two cars collide at an icy intersection and stick together afterward. The first car has a mass of 1200 kg and is approaching at 8.00 m/s due south. The second car has a mass of 850 kg and is approaching at 17.0 m/s due west. (a) Calculate the final velocity (magnitude and direction) of the cars. (b) How much kinetic energy is lost in the collision? (This energy goes into deformation of the cars.) Note that because both cars have an initial velocity, you cannot use the equations for conservation of momentum along the x -axis and y -axis; instead, you must look for other simplifying aspects.
Questions & Answers
QUESTION:
Problem 50PE
Professional Application Two cars collide at an icy intersection and stick together afterward. The first car has a mass of 1200 kg and is approaching at 8.00 m/s due south. The second car has a mass of 850 kg and is approaching at 17.0 m/s due west. (a) Calculate the final velocity (magnitude and direction) of the cars. (b) How much kinetic energy is lost in the collision? (This energy goes into deformation of the cars.) Note that because both cars have an initial velocity, you cannot use the equations for conservation of momentum along the x -axis and y -axis; instead, you must look for other simplifying aspects.
ANSWER:
a.)
Step 1 of 5
The magnitude and direction of the final velocity of cars can be found by applying law of conservation of momentum to the west and the south direction.
The law of momentum conservation can be stated as “For a collision occurring between object1 and object2 in an isolated system, the total momentum of the two objects before the collision is equal to the total momentum of the two objects after the collision”.