Question

A 75 kg Spider Man running at 3.0 m/s jumps onto a trash can lid that has a mass of 10kg and that is already moving in the same direction as Spiderman, at 2.0 m/s. What will be the final velocity of Spiderman and the lid assuming that the lid is on a level slick surface and that there is no friction?

Answer 1

The final velocity is 2.88 m/s

Answer 2

In order to find the final velocity of the skier and the trash can lid, we may apply the principle of conservation of momentum, which states that the total momentum of a system remains constant. Mathematically, in this case:
m₁v₁ + m₂v₂ = m₃v₃
Where m₃ and v₃ are the combined mass and velocity.

75*3 + 10*2 = (75 + 10)*v₃
v₃ = 2.88 m/s

The final velocity is 2.88 m/s