Question

A cart of mass m is moving with negligible friction along a track with known speed v1 to the right. It collides with and sticks to a cart of mass 4m moving with known speed v2 to the right. Which of the two principles, conservation of momentum and conservation of mechanical energy, must be applied to determine the final speed of the carts, and why

Answer 1

Answer:

conservation of linear momentum

Answer 2

We were told that two objects became stuck together hence we have to use the principle of conservation of  momentum to obtain the final velocities of the carts.

What is conservation of momentum ?

The principle of conservation of momentum lets us know that the momentum before collision is equal to the momentum after collision. As such we can write; m1u1 + m2u2 = m1v1 + m2v2.

We can use this thus principle to obtain the final speeds of the carts since the two objects that collided became stuck together.

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