Question

Two cars of the same mass collide at an intersection. Just before the collision one car is traveling east at 50.0 km/h and the other car is traveling south at 60.0 km/h. If the collision is completely inelastic, so the two cars move as one object after the collision, what is the speed of the cars immediately after the collision? _______ km/h

Answer 1

Answer:v=39.051 m/s

Step-by-step explanation:

Given

Two cars having same mass, let say m

One is traveling east 50 km/h and one is traveling 60 km/h south

after collision they stick together and move with common velocity v at angle of
`\theta`

conserving Momentum in east i.e horizontal direction

`m\cdot 50=(m+m)v\cos \theta`---1

conserving momentum in south direction i.e. in vertical direction

`m\cdot 60=(m+m)v\sin \theta`---2

Divide 1 &2 we get

`(50)/(60)=(\cos \theta )/(\sin \theta )`

`\tan \theta =(6)/(5)`

`\theta =50.19^(\circ)` w.r.t east clockwise

Put value of
`\theta` is equation 1

`m\cdot 50=2m\cdot v\cos 50.19`

`v=39.05 m/s`