Question

At an amusement park, 96.0 kg bumped car moving with a speed of 12m/s bounces elastically off a 135 kg bumper car that is at rest initially. Which of the following is the final velocity of car 1?

Answer 1

To find the final velocity of car 1 after the collision, we can use the principles of conservation of momentum and kinetic energy for an elastic collision.

Let's denote the initial velocity of car 1 as $v_{1i}$, the final velocity of car 1 as $v_{1f}$, the initial velocity of car 2 (at rest) as $v_{2i}$, and the final velocity of car 2 as $v_{2f}$.

According to the law of conservation of momentum, the total momentum before the collision is equal to the total momentum after the collision:

$m_1\cdot v_{1i}+m_2\cdot v_{2i}=m_1\cdot v_{1f}+m_2\cdot <span\; class="mord\; mathnormal"\; style="margin-right:\; 0.035$