Question

A bus and a car have an inelastic head-on collision. The bus has a mass of 1.5 × 103 kilograms and an initial velocity of +20 meters/second. The car has a mass of 9.5 × 102 kilograms and an initial velocity of -26 meters/second. What is their total momentum after the collision?

Answer 1

Multiply and add

Pcar + Pbus = Ptot

Since they have an inelastic collision it means they'll stick, so

1500(20) + (950)(-26) = 5300

The total momentum is 5300 kg*m/s

Answer 2

5 300
`kgms^(-1)`

Step-by-step explanation:

Think step:

The momentum is the product of mass an velocity, that is P = mv

The law of conservation of momentum states that for an elastic collision, the sum of the momenta is zero. That is: ∑P = mv₁ + mv₂ + mv₃ + mv...

So we add the momenta like this:

mass of bus = 1.5 × 10³ kg

velocity of the bus = + 20 m/s

mass of car = 9.5 × 10² kg

velocity of car = - 26 m/s

The total momentum =
`m_(car) v_(car) + m_(bus) v_(bus) \\= 9.5*10^(2)* (-26) + 1.5*10^(3)*(20) \\ = -24700+30000\\ = 5 300 kg`