Question

A woman of mass 57 kg jumps off the bow of

a 42 kg canoe that is intially at rest.
If her velocity is 1.5 m/s to the right, what
is the velocity of the canoe after she jumps?

Answer 1

Here we will use the momentum conservation

Since there is no external force on this system so momentum of woman + canoe system will always remains conserved

So here initial momentum of the system is zero as they are at rest so final momentum will always be zero

`m_1 v_1 + m_2v_2 = 0`

`57(1.5) + 42(v) = 0`

`85.5 + 42v = 0`

`v = -(85.5)/(42)`

`v = - 2.03 m/s`

so the canoe will go back with speed 2.03 m/s