Any Stratagies??

Question

During the battle of Gettysburg, the gunfire was so intense that several bullets collided in mid-air and fused together. Assume a 5g union musket ball was moving right at a speed of 250m/s, 20 degrees above the horizontal. A 3g confederate ball was moving to the left at a speed of 280m/s, 15 degrees above the horizontal. Immediately after they fuse together.

1.what is their velocity??


2.what is their kinetic energy??

3.was this elastic or inelastic, why?

Answer 1

Answer part 1 using conservation of momentum

Use the answer from part 1 to compute the kinetic energy of the fused bullets

It was inelastic since the bullets stuck together

1) Since momentum is a vector quantity, we need to look at the horizontal and vertical components separately and then look at the resultant to find the outcome:
Vertical:
1.25*sin(20)+.84*sin(15)=.008Vv
=80.6m/s
horizontal
1.25*cos(20)-.84*cos(15)=.008Vh
=45.4m/s

The resultant velocity is
sqrt(80.6^2+45.4^2)
=92.5m/s

2) The kinetic energy is 1/2*m*v^2
=.5*.008*92.5*92.5
=34.225

3) the kinetic energy before collision was
.5*(.005*250*250+.003*280*280)
=274

The loss in kinetic energy is typical in an inelastic collision

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