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A slab of clay with a mass of 0.16 kg and velocity of 5 m/s hits a stationary toy car of mass 0.51 kg. If the clay hits and sticks to the car, what is the velocity of the clay and car after impact?

User Shouichi
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1 Answer

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Take into account that the total momentum of the system before andafter the clay sticks to the car, must be the same.

Then, you can write:

mv1 + Mv2 = (m + M)v

where,

m: mass of the clay = 0.16kg

M: mass of the toy car = 0.51kg

v1: initial speed of the clay = 5 m/s

v2: initial speed of the car = 0 m/s

v: speed of both clay and car after the impact = ?

Solve the equation above for v, replace the values of the other parameters and simplify:


\begin{gathered} v=(mv_1+Mv_2)/(m+M)=\frac{(0.16kg)(5(m)/(s))+(0.51kg)(0(m)/(s))}{0.16\operatorname{kg}+0.51\operatorname{kg}} \\ v\approx1.2(m)/(s) \end{gathered}

Hence, the speed of both clay and toy car after the impact is approximately 1.2m/s

User Ekalavya
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