Question

On a smooth horizontal floor, an object slides into a spring which is attached to another mass that is initially stationary. When the spring is most compressed, both objects are moving at the same speed. Ignoring friction, and considering the two masses and spring as a system, what is conserved during this interaction?A) momentum and potential energyB) kinetic energy onlyC) momentum and kinetic energyD) momentum onlyE) momentum and mechanical energy

Answer 1

E) momentum and mechanical energy

Step-by-step explanation:

In the context, an object is attached to the another mass with a spring which is initially at a rest position. Now when the spring is compressed, the two masses moves with the same speed. Now since the both the masses combines with the spring to move together they are considered as one system and in this case the momentum and the kinetic energy will be conserved.

The kinetic energy and momentum of the system after collision and the kinetic energy and momentum of the two masses before collision will be constant.