Question

The mass of a particular eagle is twice that of a hunted pigeon. Suppose the pigeon is flying north at ??,2=17.1vi,2=17.1 m/swhen the eagle swoops down, grabs the pigeon, and flies off. At the instant right before the attack, the eagle is flying toward the pigeon at an angle ?=45.5θ=45.5° below the horizontal and a speed of ??,1=39.7vi,1=39.7 m/s. What is the speed of the eagle immediately after it catches its prey? speed: What is the magnitude of the angle, measured from horizontal, at which the eagle is flying immediately after the strike? magnitude of angle:

Answer 1

Here, momentum remain conserved before and after the collision in both horizontal and vertical direction. As mass the eagle is twice that of a hunted legion, let mass of the pegion is m while the mass of eagle will be 2m.

Total momentum before collision in X direction is

Px (initial) = m (17.1) + 2m (39.7) cos (-45.5) = 17.1m +55.65m = 72.75m

Py (initial) = 2m (39.7) sin (-45.5) = -56.63m

After collision, both bodies moving together, therefore the mass will become 3m.

Px (final) = 3m (V_{​​​​​​x}​​​​​)

Py (final) = 3m (V_{​​​​​​y})

Here the conservation of momentum is conserved, there initial momentum will be equal to the final momentum in respective direction.

Px (initial) = px (final)

72.75m = 3m.V_​​​x

Similarly in the y-direction,

Py (initial) = Py (final)

-56.63 = 3m. V_{​​​​​​y}

So, the speed will be

V = 30.72 m/s

And the direction will be