Question

A 12kg object moves at 5 m/s when it collides with a 2 kg object. After the collision, the 12 kg object is now moving at 2 m/s, how fast is the 2 kg object moving?

Answer 1

The 2 kg object is moving at a speed of 36 m/s in the opposite direction (-x direction) after the collision.

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve this problem, we can use the principle of conservation of momentum. The momentum of an object is calculated by multiplying its mass by its velocity. Before the collision, the momentum of the 12 kg object can be calculated as (mass1 * velocity1) = (12 kg * 5 m/s) = 60 kg·m/s. After the collision, the momentum of the 12 kg object is (12 kg * 2 m/s) = 24 kg·m/s. Since momentum is conserved, the total momentum before the collision equals the total momentum after the collision.

We can now calculate the momentum of the 2 kg object after the collision, which is equal to the total momentum after the collision minus the momentum of the 12 kg object. The momentum of the 2 kg object is (total momentum after - momentum of the 12 kg object) = (24 kg·m/s - 60 kg·m/s) = -36 kg·m/s.

Therefore, the 2 kg object is moving at a speed of 36 m/s in the opposite direction (-x direction) after the collision.