Question

A 320-g air track cart traveling at 1.25 m/s suddenly collides elastically with a stationary 270-g cart. What is the speed of the 320-g cart just after the collision?

Answer 1

Answer

Speed of 320 gram cart will be 0.377 m /sec

Explanation:

We have given mass of the air track $m_1=320gram=0.32kg$

Velocity of the air track $v_1=1.25m/sec$

Mass of the cart $m_2=270gram=0.270kg$

Cart is at stationary so velocity of cart $v_2=0m/sec$

Now according to conservation of momentum

$m_1v_1+m_2v_2=(m_1+m_2)v$

$0.32\times 1.25+0.270\times 0=(0.320+0.270)v$

$v=0.677m/sec$