Question

Two trucks are both moving before a collision. Traveling at 40.00 meters/second, truck A collides with truck B, traveling at 25.00 meters/second. After colliding, the trucks stick together and slide at velocity vf. The mass of truck A is 1,700 kilograms, and the mass of truck B is 2000 kilograms. Use conservation of momentum to find the direction and velocity in which they move after the collision.Show all your work

Answer 1

Conservation of momentum can be expressed as follows:

m1v1 + m2v2 = m1vf + m2vf

where m1 and m2 are the masses of truck A and truck B respectively, v1 and v2 are their initial velocities before collision, and vf is the final velocity of the two trucks after collision.

Given that m1 = 1700 kg, m2 = 2000 kg, v1 = 40 m/s, and v2 = 25 m/s, we can substitute these values into the equation above and solve for vf:

1700 * 40 + 2000 * 25 = 1700 * vf + 2000 * vf

68000 = 3700 * vf

vf = 68000 / 3700

vf = 18.38 m/s

This final velocity vf represents the speed and direction in which the two trucks move after collision. It's directed in the same direction as the sum of the initial velocities of the trucks.