Question

Imagine a situation where two hockey pucks are sliding on a flat, horizontal plane of frictionless ice. One puck has twice the mass of the other. They approach each other as described in each problem, collide, and then stick together.

a) True
b) False

Answer 1

The final velocity of both pucks will be (m1 * v1) / (m1 + m2) due to the conservation of momentum principle in a frictionless collision.

Step-by-step explanation:

Conservation of momentum is used to analyze the collision of two pucks on frictionless ice. Since the pucks stick together after the collision, we can treat them as one object. The total momentum before the collision is equal to the total momentum after the collision.

Let the initial velocity of the blue puck be v1 and the initial velocity of the red puck be 0. Since the collision is perfectly elastic, the final velocities of both pucks will be the same. According to the conservation of momentum:

m1v1 + m2 * 0 = (m1 + m2)vf

Simplifying the equation:

vf = (m1v1) / (m1 + m2)

Therefore, both pucks will have the final velocity of (m1v1) / (m1 + m2).