Nate the Skate was an avid physics student whose main non-physics interest in li

Question

Nate the Skate was an avid physics student whose main non-physics interest in life was high-speed skateboarding. In particular, Nate would often don a protective suit of Bounce-Tex, which he invented, and after working up a high speed on his skateboard, would collide with some object. In this way, he got a gut feel for the physical properties of collisions and succeeded in combining his two passions." On one occasion, the Skate, with a mass of 123 kg, including his armor, hurled himself against a 805-kg stationary statue of Isaac Newton in a perfectly elastic linear collision. As a result, Isaac started moving at 1.11 m/s and Nate bounced backward. What were Nate's speeds immediately before and after the collision? (Enter positive numbers.) Ignore friction with the ground. Before: Number m/s After: Number m/s ten in the past tense, because not long ago he forgot to unce-Tex before colliding with the Washington Monument in a perfectly inelastic collision. We will miss him. O Previous O Check Answer 0 Next Exit

Explanation / Answer

Let speed before collision be V1 and after collision be V2 in opposite direction.
Initial momentum = 123 V1
final momentum of system = 805*1.11 - 123 V2
by momentum conservation 123 V1 = 805*1.11 - 123 V2 ....1
As collision is elastic, relative velocity before collision is equal to relative evlocity after collision, in magnitude.
V1 = V2 + 1.11   ....2

Solving 1 and 2 we get
V1 = 4.19 m/s
V2 = 3.08 m/s

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