3. Two astronauts, astronauts A and B, participate in three collision experiment

Question

3. Two astronauts, astronauts A and B, participate in three collision experiments in a weightless frictionless environment. In each experiment, astronaut B is initially at rest, and astronaut A has initial momentum pA 20 kg m/s to the right. (The velocities of the astronauts are measured with respect to a nearby space station.) Before After Experiments 1, 2, 3 20 kg m/s at rest at rest The astronauts push on each other in different ways so that the outcome of each experiment is different. As shown in the figure at right, astronaut A has a different final momentum in each experiment. par 5 kg. m/s p 5 kg m/s

Explanation / Answer

From conservation of linear momentum, the total momentum of the two Astronauts systems remains conserved.

P(initial) = P(final)

The intial momentum of the system before collision is 20 kg-m/s.

(1)From the figure, A after collision has zero momentum, So from the conservation of momentum, all the momentum of A has been transferred to B. So P(b) = 20 kg-m/s, in the same direction as A.

2)In this case,

P(b) = 20 - 5 = 15 kg-m/s (-15 to be in opposite direction of Pa = 5), so its directed towards right,

3)P(b) = 15 kg-m/s ; towards a.

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