Question

jordan has a mass of 65kg and carlos has a mass of 78.0kg. jordan is running at 5.75m/s when he is tackled by carlos who is running in the opposite direction. after the collision of both players are at rest. calculate their velocity before the collision.

Answer 1

Given

mj = 65 kg

mc = 78 kg

voj = 5.75 m/s

after collision

vfj = vfc = 0 m/s

Procedure

The law of momentum conservation can be stated as follows. For a collision occurring between object 1 and object 2 in an isolated system, the total momentum of the two objects before the collision is equal to the total momentum of the two objects after the collision.

`\begin{gathered} p_o=p_f \\ m_jv_(0j)-m_cv_(0c)=0 \\ m_jv_(0j)=m_cv_(0c) \\ v_(0c)=(m_jv_(0j))/(m_c) \\ v_(0c)=(65kg*5.75m/s)/(78kg) \\ v_(Oc)=4.8m/s \end{gathered}`

The velocity before the collision would be 4.8m/s