Question

A 1.85 kg falcon catches a 0.355 kg dove from behind in midair. What is their velocity after impact if the falcon's velocity is initially 28.5 m/s and the dove's velocity is 5.35 m/s in the same direction?

Answer 1

24.773m/s

Step-by-step explanation:

Suppose the 2 birds stick together after the impact. Then by the law of conservation of momentum, the total momentum before the impact must be the same as the total momentum after the impact:

Let
`m_f = 1.85 kg, m_d = 0.355 kg` be the mass of the falcon and dove, respectively.
`v_f = 28.5 m/s, v_d = 5.35 m/s` be the speed of falcon and dove before the impact, respectively. We have the total momentum before the impact:

`m_dv_d + m_fv_f = 0.355*5.35 + 1.85*28.5 = 54.62 kg m/s`

This is also the momentum after the impact, since their stick-together mass is the combination of 1.85 + 0.355 = 2.205 kg, their speed after the impact must be

V = 54.62 / 2.205 = 24.773 m/s