Question

A student runs an experiment in which a block of known mass is moving across a horizontal table in an xy-coordinate plane. As the block reaches the origin of the coordinate system, the block explodes into two pieces of masses m1 and m2. During the experiment, the velocity of the block 1.0 second before the explosion and the velocity of the two pieces 1.0 second after the explosion are measured using a motion sensor. Conservation of momentum is applied using the masses of the two pieces. However, when the velocity of the piece of mass m2 is calculated, the measured value is 10% less than the calculated value. Which of the following statements best explains the difference in the calculated and measured velocity?

Responses

Answer 1

The difference in the calculated and measured velocity could be due to the fact that the motion sensor may not have been able to accurately detect the velocity of the block 1.0 second before the explosion due to the sudden change in momentum caused by the explosion. Additionally, the motion sensor may not have been able to accurately detect the velocity of the two pieces 1.0 second after the explosion due to the sudden change in momentum caused by the explosion. This could explain the 10% discrepancy between the calculated and measured velocity.

Step-by-step explanation: