Question

A dart with a mass of 0.5kg is thrown at 15m/s and sticks into a 1kg apple hanging

on a string. What is the total momentum of the objects before the collision?

Answer 1

Before the collision:

m v1 = .5 kg * 15 m/s = 7.5 kg-m/s

Incidentally, after the collision

(M + m) v2 = 7.5

v2 = 7.5 / (1 + .5) = 5 m/s