Two carts on an air track are pushed towards coch other. (f you aren\'t familiar

Question

Two carts on an air track are pushed towards coch other. (f you aren't familiar with air tracks, you can see a short video of ane here.) Initialy, cart 1 moves in the positive x direction and cart 2 moves in the negative x direction. They bounce off each other elastically. The graphs below describe some of the variables associated with the motion as a function of time. For the experiment described and for each item in the list below, identify which graph is a possible display of that arable as a function of time. If none apply, chcose N (for none). For any quantity that is a vector, please interpret the question as asking about the x-component of that vector. (a) The momentum af cart 1 (b) The force on cert 2

Explanation / Answer

a) The momentum of cart 1
The cart 1 was moving in the positive x-direction before colliding with the other cart, so initially, the momentum is in positive direction
After the collision, the cart1 moves in opposite direction to conserve the momentum and kinetic energy(Elastic collision)
So after the collision, the car moves with constant velocity but in the negative direction
The situation is best described by the figure d
b) The force on cart2
The force on the carts exists only when the collision happens
Force on cart2 by the cart1 is directed in the negative direction. At first, it increases, attains a maximum value, then decreases and becomes zero
The situation is described by the figure c
c) The force on the cart1 is directed in the positive direction
The situation is described in figure e
d) The position of cart1 starts from a positive maximum value and the decreases to zero
and after the collision, the position increases in the positive x direction
The situation is not described in any of the graphs
So the option is N
e) The position of cart2 starts from a negative maximum value and then decreases to zero
and after the collision, the position increases in the negative x-direction
The situation is described by the graph b

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