Question

A grocery shopper tosses a(n) 8.6 kg bag of rice into a stationary 18.1 kg grocery cart. The bag hits the cart with a horizontal speed of 5.2 m/s toward the front of the cart. What is the final speed of the cart and bag

Answer 1

Answer: 1.67 m/s

Explanation:

Given

Mass of bag is $m=8.6\ kg$

Mass of cart is $M=18.1\ kg$

bag hits the cart with horizontal speed of $u=5.2\ m/s$

Suppose the system move with speed v after collision

Conserving the momentum

$\Rightarrow mu+M(0)=(M+m)v\\\\\Rightarrow v=\dfrac{mu}{M+m}\\\\\Rightarrow v=\dfrac{8.6\times 5.2}{18.1+8.6}\\\\\Rightarrow v=1.67\ m/s$