Conservation of momentum Definition and 757 Threads

Homework Statement Three identical train cars, coupled together, are rolling east at 3.71 m/s. A fourth car traveling east at 6.74 m/s catches up with the three and couples to make a four-car train. A moment later, the train cars hit a fifth car that was at rest on the tracks, and it couples...

One key aspect of Special Relativity is the fact that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. This concept derives from Maxwell's Equations, which calculate the speed of light (electrodynamics). Since Maxwell's Equations describe the formation of magnetic fields (as a result of...

EDIT: MASS OF CANOE IS ACTUALLY 50G I typed it wrong the 1st time :/ Homework Statement 50kg girl sits in a 50kg canoe at rest on the water. She holds two 10 kg cannon balls. she throws them over the stern of her canoe one at a time, each ball leaving her hands at a velocity of 5.0m/s...

There are several references to “lost” kinetic energy when trying to analyze motion based on the Conservation of Momentum and the Conservation of Energy laws. Generally, the answer to apparent discrepancies include references to ‘elastic’ or ‘in-elastic’ collisions and whether or not they are...

I'm a programmer and I've been working on a simulation that involves some physics. Part of my simulation involves two 3D spheres colliding where each sphere has its own mass and velocity. I already found code that handles that and applies conservation of momentum to get the new resulting...

Hi, This is a problem I've been puzzling over and I can't get a straight understanding of it. I'm hoping someone can explain how conservation of momentum applies to this problem. Consider a planar 'robot' (ie 2 dimensional system) consisting of only 2 stiff limbs, connected at the 'hip'...

Homework Statement This is an experiment involving colliding 2 gliders on an airtrack. Initial and final speeds are both recorded. I need to plot a graph that proves the Conservation of Momentum holds true, but I can't seem to get the correct Y and X axis variables. Assuming both masses m1 and...

Homework Statement Ball One: 0.4 kg, energy 100J before collision. Ball Two: 0.6 kg, energy 112J before collision. Two balls are thrown at each other and collide in midair. Ball Two flies off at an angle 32º below the horizontal with an energy of 95J. At what angle and speed did Ball...

Little item that is being debated on another forum and I thought I'd attempt to get a "second opinion" here. Picture this, a simple projectile ( just for the sake of argument let's say an aluminum soda can, full or empty, not a big deal) and the projectile is first shot from an air-cannon...

Homework Statement Two hockey pucks of equal mass undergo a collision on a hockey rink. One puck is initially at rest, while the other is moving with a speed of 5.4m/s. After the collision, the velocities of the pucks make angles of 33 degrees and 46 degrees relative to the original velocity...

Homework Statement Bullet = 0.02 kg pendulum block = 2 kg bullet fired from (0m,0m) with velocity of (x m/s, 30 deg) pendulum block located (30m, 30deg) the maximum height reached by pendulum is 0.2 meter what is the value of X Homework Equations I've tried several ways to...

Energy and momentum only differ by a factor of V/2. So in essence, at a fundamental level, does this mean that the conservation of energy is the conservation of momentum in disguise? IH

From what I remember about momentum conservation is conserved in both x and y directions. Energy must be conserved as well (elastic collision) If I have a cue ball moving to the right with velocity of 4 m/s and it hits another stationary cue ball with equal mass. The first cue ball is...

Homework Statement are included in the attached image. I've solved the first two parts, my question is about part c. It makes more sense for me to think that the tube has gained some velocity after the collisions and moves to one direction. Probably on the left because the velocity gained from...

Homework Statement A student hold a 2kg air rifle loosely and fires a paint ball that has a mass of .001 kg. The paintball is fired at 150 m/s. What is the recoil velocity of the rifle? If the 48kg student holds the rifle more firmly, so that it rests against there body, what is the new recoil...

I'm going through John Taylor's book on Classical Mechanics and am having some difficulty understanding his derivation of momentum conservation in the Lagrangian section. Firstly he starts the section off with assuming that all N particles of a system are moved in space by a distance \epsilon...

So I was thinking about the conservation of momentum. If you throw a handball at a wall, the wall will provide an equal normal force, thus sending the handball back at the same velocity (in a perfect scenario). The ball has a momentum vector, the wall never moves, and thus only has a...

Homework Statement my notes say this: Conservation of momentum in one deminsion m1(v1initial-v1final) = m2(v2i-v2f) equation 1 Conservation of Kinetic Energy: mass1*(v1^2initial - v1^2final) = mass2(v2^2in - v2^2fin) equation 2 Then is says: on the left hand side...

It's a fundamental principle. But *why* does it have to happen? I can easily intuit why conservation of energy has to happen, and I can also intuit why conservation of mass has to happen. But with conservation of momentum, I can't intuit why.

Homework Statement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1TMZASCR-I&feature=related Why does this happen? Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I think it's because of the conservation of angular momentum moving the cans, but I'm still confused as to why the angles between the...

Homework Statement An artillery shell of mass 10 kg is launched due east at 3,000 ft/sec at an angle of 30 degrees above the horizontal. It explodes 5 seconds later, and splits into 2 pieces - one of mass m1 3 kg and the other m2 of mass 7 kg. Neglect air resistance. The 3 kg piece lands...

Homework Statement The 1000N stone box is supported by two steel cylinders A and B at 100N each. The system is at rest in the position shown when the constant force P = 100N is applied. Determine the velocity of the stone box C when cylinder A has reached the left corner of the...

Say two stationary spheres are struck by a third moving sphere (each different masses), such that they are both hit at the same time and at the same magnitude angle, and coefficient of restitution e is known. If I want to calculate the velocity of each sphere, would the conservation of momentum...

A radioactive nucleus of mass 235 units traveling at 400 km/s disintegrates into a nucleus of mass 95 units and a nucleus of 140 units. If the nucleus of mass 95 units travels backwards at 200 km/s what is the velocity of the nucleus of mass 140 units? Momentum before = Momentum After...

In an isolated system, momentum is conserved. I understand this. However, I also learned that that the motion and energy of the particles inside of an isolated system is defined by the average kinetic energy (temperature). Do we have to assume that every collision is elastic and that kinetic...

Homework Statement Two cars, both of mass m, collide and stick together. Prior to the collision, one car had been traveling north at speed 2v, while the second was traveling at speed v at an angle \phisouth of east (as indicated in the figure). After the collision, the two-car system travels at...

I am planning an experiment on the Law of Conservation of Momentum and the variable I wanted to investigate would be the effect of the collision time. I am however, a bit in doubt: Force = Change in Momentum / Time I understand that if I decrease the time of impact I will increase the...

A 1100 kg car traveling initially with a speed of 25.0 m/s in an easterly direction crashes into the rear end of a 8200 kg truck moving in the same direction at 20.0 m/s . The velocity of the car right after the collision is 18.0 m/s to the east. 1.How much mechanical energy is lost in the...

Homework Statement Consider the reaction pion(+) + neutron --> Kaon(+) + lambda particle(0). The rest masses of the particles are m(pion) = 140MeV,m(n) = 940MeV, m(K) = 494MeV, and m(lambda) = 1115MeV. What is the threshold kinetic energy of the pion particle to create a Kaon at an angle of...

A cart with mass 370 g moving on a frictionless linear air track at an initial speed of 1.7 m/s undergoes an elastic collision with an initially stationary cart of unknown mass. After the collision, the first cart continues in its original direction at 0.42 m/s. (a) What is the mass of the...

if linear and angular momentum are separately conserved how dampening works? like in a suspension of a car

Homework Statement In the figure here, a stationary block explodes into two pieces L and R that slide across a frictionless floor and then into regions with friction, where they stop. Piece L, with a mass of 1.6 kg, encounters a coefficient of kinetic friction μL = 0.43 and slides to a stop in...

Homework Statement The problem involves fluid flow through a 180 degree bend in a pipe. I am trying to find out the force applied on the flanges connecting the bend to straight pieces of pipe. I am given information on the diameter of the pipe, the length of the pipe, weight flow rate, and...

angular momentum and linear momentum is conserved, but what happen when combination angular momentum and linear momentum occurs? for example a ball hits a horizontal paddle wheel on a base(which is free to move in any directions). then what happen to linear momentum of ball and paddle wheel...

Homework Statement Apply the Law of Conservation of Momentum to the act of pitching a baseball. Homework Equations f=ma The Attempt at a Solution ?

Homework Statement A uniform rod has a mass 2m and a length l, and it can spin freely in a horizontal plane about a pivot point O at the center of the rod. A piece of clay with mass m and velocity v hits one end of the rod, and causes the rod-clay system to spin. After the collisions...

Consider a scenario where someone stands on the surface of the Earth and throws punches into the air. Now all the forces(which i am taking to be the tension in the muscle fibres of the arm ) acting on the system of man and Earth are internal ( internal because they are exerted by one component...

Ann (mass 50kg) is standing at the left end of a 15m long 500kg cart that has frictionless wheels and rolls on a frictionless track. Initially Ann and the cart are at rest. Suddenly, Ann starts running along the cart at a speed of 5.0m/s relative to the cart. How far will Ann have have run...

Homework Statement A wooden block is cut into two pieces, one with three times the mass of the other. A depression is made in both faces of the cut, so that a firecracker can be placed in it with the block reassembled. The reassembled block is set on a rough-surfaced table, and the fuse is...

1. Two spheres having masses M and 2M and radii R and 3R, respectively, are simultaneously released from rest when the distance between their centers is 12R. Assume the two spheres interact only with each other and we wish to find the speeds with which they collide. Write an equation from one of...

Homework Statement Two identical sticky masses m are moving in the xy-plane, with their momenta at an angle of φ with one another. They are each moving at the same speed v when they collide at the origin of the coordinates and stick together. After the collision, the masses move at an angle...

I recently did an experiment in class that involved two parts, 1) the collision of 2 metal pucks 2) the collision of 2 magnetic pucks following the analysis, i discovered that in part 1, 75% of the original kinetic energy, and 93% of the original momentum was conserved after the collision...

In my lab, I have the change in momentum = -8.00 x 10-3 and my error of change in momentum = 1.22 x 10-3. Does my change in momentum have to be lower than my error of conservation in order to prove conservation of momentum? Then none of my procedures prove this, even though my average error...

Homework Statement This question is from a correspondence course I'm taking: Two spacecraft from different nations have linked in space and are coasting with their engines off, heading directly toward Mars. The spacecraft s are thrust apart by large springs. Spacecraft 1, with a mass of...

Homework Statement The front of a 1400 kg car is designed to absorb the shock of a collision by having a "crumple zone" in which the front 1.20 m of the car collapses in absorbing the shock of a collision. (a) If a car traveling 25.0 m/s stops uniformly in 1.20 m, how long does the...

Homework Statement Explain the need to understand the law of conservation of momentum in the study of rocketry. (2marks) Homework Equations Sum of Initial momentum = sum of final momentum :) what two dot points would i need?

Homework Statement A uniform stick of length L and mass M lies on a frictionless horizontal surface. A point particle of mass m approaches the stick with speed v on a straight line perpendicular to one end of the stick and intersects the stick at one end, as shown above (FIGURE ATTACHED)...

Homework Statement The uniform rod (length 0.60 m, mass 1.0 kg) in Fig. 11-54 rotates in the plane of the figure about an axis through one end, with a rotational inertia of 0.12 kg·m2. As the rod swings through its lowest position, it collides with a 0.20 kg putty wad that sticks to the end of...

Homework Statement Two billiard balls collide on a horizontal table (assume no friction)). Billiard ball A has a mass of 0.175 kg,travelling at 1.20 m/s [E 40 deg S]. Billiard ball B has a mass of 0.225 kg, traveling at 0.68 m/s [E]. The velocity of billiard ball B after collision is 0.93...

Homework Statement Hi, new to the forums and I was wondering if someone could help me figure out what I am doing wrong. Thanx in advance. Gayle runs at a speed of 4.38 m/s and dives on a sled, which is initially at rest on the top of a frictionless snow-covered hill. After she has descended a...