In: Physics
Although often unfairly maligned as “fake news,” it is a well-documented fact that beavers like to ride hovercraft. And so it occurred, one day in Little Chute, that two beavers floating on their respective cushions of air engaged in a head-on collision. Because of the famed magnetic personality of beavers, their collision was perfectly elastic. Beaver #1 has a mass of 21.5 kg and was initially moving towards the right at 87.3 m/s, while beaver #2 has a mass of 15.7 kg and was initially at rest. What were the speeds and directions of the two beavers, immediately after they collided? Assume the collision is directly head-on, and so occurs only in one dimension.
1. beaver #1: v1'=0 m/s; beaver #2: v2'=120 m/s to the right
2. beaver #1: v1'=13.6 m/s to the right; beaver #2: v2'=101 m/s to the right
3. beaver #1: v1'=0 m/s; beaver #2: v2'=87.3 m/s to the right
4. beaver #1: v1'=50.5 m/s to the right; beaver #2: v2'=50.5 m/s to the right