Suppose a ball of putty moving horizontally with 1 kg m/s of momentum collides and sticks to an identical ball of putty moving vertically with 1kg m/s of momentum. What is their combined momentum?? What is the total momentum of the balls of putty before and after the collision??.
Please.... ow please help :(
2007-09-12 03:48:45 · 2 answers · asked by Sawira 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
> What is their combined momentum??
Momentum is a vector. So to get the combined momentum, you add the two individual momentum vectors. If you don't know how to do vector addition, you're not ready for this question anyway, so crack open those books.
> What is the total momentum of the balls of putty before and after the collision??.
The Law of Conservation of Momentum says this:
(total momentum before) = (total momemtum after)
You can calculate (total momentum before) by adding the two vectors as described above. Then you automatically know (total momentum after).
2007-09-12 04:09:54 · answer #1 · answered by RickB 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Momentum is conserved since there are no forces external to the system acting. But kinetic energy is not conserved since some enrgy is used to cause the balls to stick together.
Momentum in horizontal (x) direction:
m1v1x = (m1+m2)v3x
Momentum in vertical direction:
m2v2y = (m1+m2)v3y
m1v1x = m2v2y = 1 kg m/sec
Pinitial = (1kg m/s, 1kg m/s) --> this is a vector so the first value is the x-component, the seond is the y
In polar representation : | Pinit | = sqrt( (1 kg m/s)^2+(1kg m/s)^2) = 1.4.1 kg m/s, at angle of arctan(1kgm/s/(1kgm/s) = 45 degrees with respect to the horizontal axis.
Since momentum is conserved, the final momentum is the same as the intial total momentum.
2007-09-12 11:05:36 · answer #2 · answered by nyphdinmd 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋