Question

two cars are headed towards an intersection and are due to collide any time now. car a has a mass of 1500 kg and a velocity of < 20,0,0 >m/s. car b has a mass of 1500 kg and a velocity of < 0,-23,0 >. let your system be the two cars. before the collision, what is the momentum of the system?

Answer 1

The total momentum of the system before the collision is <30,000 kg·m/s, -34,500 kg·m/s, 0> when considering that Car A is contributing a momentum of 30,000 kg·m/s in the +x-direction and Car B is contributing -34,500 kg·m/s in the -y-direction.

Step-by-step explanation:

Before the collision, the momentum of the system composed of two cars can be calculated by vector addition of the momenta of each car. Since momentum is a vector quantity, it includes both magnitude and direction. Car A has a momentum of <1500 kg * 20 m/s, 0, 0> or 30,000 kg·m/s in the +x-direction, and Car B has a momentum of <0, -1500 kg * 23 m/s, 0> or -34,500 kg·m/s in the -y-direction. To find the total momentum of the system before the collision, we add these two vectors:

<30,000 kg·m/s, 0, 0> + <0, -34,500 kg·m/s, 0> = <30,000 kg·m/s, -34,500 kg·m/s, 0>

The total momentum of the system before the collision is <30,000 kg·m/s, -34,500 kg·m/s, 0> in vector form.