Question

1. The total momentum of the two race cars before a collision is 600kg m/s. What is the total momentum of the two race cars after they collide?ASAP

Answer 1

600 kg m/s

Step-by-step explanation:

We have two types of collision:

- Elastic collision: in an elastic collision, the total momentum of the system and the total kinetic energy of the system are both conserved

- Inelastic collision: in an inelastic collision, only the total momentum of the system is conserved, while the total kinetic energy is not

In this problem, the total momentum of the two cars before the collision is

600 kg m/s

Whether the collision is elastic or not, the total momentum is conserved: this means that the total momentum after the collision is still equal to the total momentum before the collision, so

600 kg m/s