Question

A bicyclist is biking down a board walk by the water, the mass of him and his bike is 99.0 kg. he is moving at a constant 8.70 m/s when a bird flies into him from the front at 1.80 m/s and is unable to fly away. if they are now travelling at 8.40 m/s, what is the mass of the bird?

Answer 1

The mass of the bird that collided with the bicyclist can be determined by using the conservation of momentum principle. By setting up the equation and solving for the unknown mass of the bird, we find that it is 2.7 kg.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the mass of the bird that collided with the bicyclist, we can use the principle of conservation of momentum, which states that the total momentum of a system remains constant if no external forces act on it. The total momentum before the collision is the sum of the momenta of the bicyclist and the bird, which is equal to the total momentum after the collision.

The momentum of the bicyclist before the collision is the product of his mass and velocity, which is 99 kg × 8.70 m/s. The bird's initial momentum is its mass (which we'll call m) times its velocity of 1.80 m/s, with its direction being opposite to the bicyclist's movement.

After the collision, both the bird and the bicyclist move together at 8.40 m/s, and their combined mass is 99 kg + m. Setting up the equation of momentum conservation and solving for the mass of the bird gives us:

(99 kg × 8.70 m/s) + (m × -1.80 m/s) = (99 kg + m) × 8.40 m/s

Solving for m yields:

m = ​2.7 kg