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 131 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 1.09 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.

*By the way, this brief bio of Nate the Skate is written in the past tense, because not long ago he forgot to put on his Bounce-Tex before colliding with the Washington Monument in a perfectly inelastic collision. We will miss him.

Explanation / Answer

131(v1)=805*(1.09)+131(v2)

for elastic collision

velocity of separation=velocity of approach

v2-1.09=0-v1

from two equations

v1(before collision)=3.9m/s

v2(after collision)=2.8m/s(in back ward direction

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