Question

An ice-skater with a mass of 80kg is holding a bowling ball with a mass of 8 kg. Suppose that the skater tosses the bowling ball forward with a speed of 6 m/s. What is the skater's reactive velocity? Show all work.

Answer 1

0.6 m/s

Step-by-step explanation:

The details of the masses and velocities are;

The mass of the ice skater, m₁ = 80 kg

The mass of the ball, m₂ = 8 kg

The speed with which the skater tosses the ball forward, v₂ = 6 m/s

Therefore;

According to the principle of conservation of linear momentum, we have;

m₁·v₁ = m₂·v₂

Where;

v₁ = The skater's reactive velocity

Therefore, we get;

80 kg × v₁ = 8 kg × 6 m/s

v₁ = 8 kg × 6 m/s/(80 kg) = 0.6 m/s

The skater's reactive velocity, v₁ = 0.6 m/s.