Question

In a railroad accident, a boxcar weighing 180 kN and traveling at 2.70 m/s on horizontal track slams into a stationary caboose weighing 330 kN. The collision connects the caboose to the boxcar. How much energy is transferred from kinetic energy to other forms of energy in the collision?

Answer 1

In Physics, to determine the energy lost in a collision, one must apply the principles of conservation of momentum to calculate the final velocity then use the kinetic energy formula to find the difference in energy before and after the collision.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question involves calculating the energy lost during a collision between two railway vehicles – a boxcar and a stationary caboose. This is a classic problem in conservation of momentum and energy transfer within the field of Physics. To solve this problem, one would use the principle of conservation of momentum to find the final velocity after the collision and then the formula for kinetic energy to calculate the energy before and after the collision. The difference between the initial and final kinetic energy will give the amount of energy transferred to other forms of energy.

For a perfectly inelastic collision where the two objects stick together, momentum before the collision equals momentum after the collision:

m1v1 + m2v2 = (m1 + m2)vf

To find the loss in kinetic energy:

ΔKE = KEinitial - KEfinal

Where kinetic energy, KE = 1/2 mv2.