Question

A cart of mass 3.8 kg is traveling to the right (which we will take to be the positive x-direction for this problem) at a speed of 6.9 m/s. It collides with a stationary cart that is three times as massive. After the collision, the more massive cart is moving at a speed of 1.7 m/s, to the right.

How much momentum, in the x-direction, was transferred to the more massive cart, in kilogram meters per second?

Answer 1

19.38 kg·m/s of momentum was transferred to the more massive cart in the x-direction when it was hit by the smaller cart.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student is asking about the momentum transferred to the more massive cart during a collision in a physics experiment. Since momentum is conserved in collisions, we can calculate the momentum transferred by using the momentum of the system before and after the collision. The initial momentum of the more massive cart is zero because it is stationary. After the collision, its momentum is the mass times the velocity (momentum transfer).

We are given that the cart of mass 3.8 kg is traveling at 6.9 m/s and collides with a stationary cart that is three times as massive, so the mass of the second cart is 3.8 kg x 3 = 11.4 kg. After the collision, the second cart is traveling at 1.7 m/s. To find the momentum transferred, we multiply the mass of the second cart by its final velocity:

Momentum transferred = mass of cart x final velocity = 11.4 kg x 1.7 m/s

Thus, the momentum transferred to the more massive cart is 11.4 kg x 1.7 m/s = 19.38 kg·m/s in the x-direction.