- #1
RED119
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Homework Statement
So in the problem there is a projectile that is in the air and has no forces acting up, only the -9.8 acceleration down, the projectile is at the maximum height of say 10m and at this height (with a horizontal acceleration of around 40 m/s) explodes into two even 20g pieces (original mass is 40g, not sure where the energy for the explosion is coming from since all the mass is conserved and non is converted in a chemical reaction to release heat or energy, instructor said to ignore it), one of the pieces now has 0 acceleration horizontally, what is the distance the second piece traveled from the explosion?
Homework Equations
W =FxCos KE = 12mv2 KE = KEf-KEi
WTotal=KE
PEg=mgh PEg=mgy
PEs=12kx2 PEs=PEsf-PEsi
ME = KE+PEg+PEs
KEi+PEgi+PEsi=KEf+PEgf+PEsf
ME = Wfriction
p = mv p = pf-pi
I = p I = F*t
The Attempt at a Solution
So... my basic ideas of physics (which could be misguided here) are telling me that if the mass is halved and the same force is imparted on that new lighter object that got a heavier object to accelerate to X (40m/s) then the new acceleration of the lighter object will need to be greater than X. My issue is I am not sure how to figure out that initial force or whether I am even on the right track here...
The last part I am pretty sure is just you figure out how long it would be in the air for (free fall conditions, so pretty easy, then take that and plug it into what you found about its acceleration and figure out how far the delta X is in that time-frame to get that answer
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