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A small toy car with a mass of 0.4 kg and a velocity of 5 m/s crashes into another toy car that was at rest with the same mass. The first toy car stops moving and the second toy car then moves forward and crashes into the third toy car that was at rest with a mass of 0.2 kg.

If the system is closed, what is the velocity of the third toy car?

1 Answer

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Final answer:

In this scenario, the final velocity of the third toy car can be calculated using the principle of conservation of momentum. The initial momentum of the system is equal to the final momentum of the system, which allows us to find the transferred momentum from the first toy car to the second toy car. Finally, using the transferred momentum and the mass of the third toy car, we can calculate its final velocity.

Step-by-step explanation:

In this scenario, we can analyze the collision using the principle of conservation of momentum. The total momentum before the collision is equal to the total momentum after the collision.

Using this principle, we can calculate the velocity of the third toy car by first finding the initial momentum of the system, which is the momentum of the first toy car. The initial momentum is given by:

Initial Momentum = mass of first toy car × velocity of first toy car

Plugging in the values, we get:

Initial Momentum = 0.4 kg × 5 m/s = 2 kg·m/s

Since the system is closed, the final momentum of the system is zero. So, the momentum transferred from the first toy car to the second toy car is also 2 kg·m/s. Finally, we can calculate the velocity of the third toy car using the equation:

Final Velocity of third toy car = transferred momentum / mass of third toy car

Plugging in the values, we get:

Final Velocity of third toy car = 2 kg·m/s / 0.2 kg = 10 m/s

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