In: Physics
Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse compete on a skating rink. Mickey has the mass m = 30kg, and skates to the east with the directional velocity v = 5m / s. Minnie has a mass of m = 20 kg and is firing straight into Micky's lap. In the collision, they embrace and travel both to the east, at a velocity of v = 1m / s. What was the speed of the Minnie Mouses direction for the collision?
We will solve the given problem using the conservation of momentum.
Consider the east direction along the x-axis, then the unit velocity vector along east is .
After the collision, they embrace together hence their mass becomes,
And given after the collision their velocity is
Hence using the conservation of momentum we get
Hence we can see that the velocity of Minnie Mouse before the collision is , which means Minnie Mouse has a speed of along the east or along the direction of collision.