Question

A cart of mass m moves tot he right on frictionless track at speed v1. The cart collides and sticks to another cart moving to the right at speed v2 with mass 3m.

Which of the following quantities are conserved during the collision?
A) kinetic energy is conserved
B) Both momentum and kinetic energy are conserved
C) momentum is conserved

Answer 1

In this collision, momentum is conserved, but kinetic energy is not conserved.

Step-by-step explanation:

In this collision, momentum is conserved, but kinetic energy is not conserved.

Conservation of momentum states that the total momentum before the collision is equal to the total momentum after the collision. Since there are no external forces acting on the system, the momentum of the system remains constant.

However, kinetic energy is not conserved because some of the initial kinetic energy is transformed into other forms of energy, such as heat and sound, during the collision.