Exam 9: Center of Mass and Linear Momentum

Blocks A and B are moving toward each other. A has a mass of 2.0 kg and a velocity of 50 m/s, while B has a mass of 4.0 kg and a velocity of -25 m/s. They suffer a completely inelastic collision. The kinetic energy lost during the collision is:

The center of mass of a system of particles obeys an equation similar to Newton's second law where:

When you step on the accelerator to increase the speed of your car, the force that accelerates the car is:

Two carts (A and B), having spring bumpers, collide as shown. Cart A has a mass of 2 kg and is initially moving to the right. Cart B has a mass of 3 kg and is initially stationary. When the separation between the carts is a minimum:

A 1000-kg space probe is motionless in space. To start moving, its main engine is fired for 5 s during which time it ejects exhaust gases at 5000 m/s. At the end of this process it is moving at 20 m/s. The approximate mass of the ejected gas is:

A machinist starts with three identical square plates but cuts one corner from one of them, two corners from the second, and three corners from the third. Rank the three plates according to the x coordinates of their centers of mass, from smallest to largest.

Sphere A has mass m and is moving with velocity v. It makes a head-on elastic collision with a stationary sphere B of mass 2m. After the collision their speeds (v_A, and v_B) are:

When a particle suffers a head-on elastic collision with another particle, initially at rest, the greatest fraction of kinetic energy is transferred if:

Two spacemen are floating together with zero speed in a gravity-free region of space. The mass of spaceman A is 120 kg and that of spaceman B is 90 kg. Spaceman A pushes B away from him with B attaining a final speed of 0.5 m/s. The final recoil speed of A is:

A 500-kg sack of coal is dropped on a 2000-kg railroad flatcar which was initially moving at 3 m/s as shown. After the sack rests on the flatcar, the speed of the flatcar is:

The thrust of a rocket is

A 3.0-kg and a 2.0-kg cart approach each other on a horizontal air track. They collide and stick together. After the collision their total kinetic energy is 40 J. The speed of their center of mass is:

A 1.0 kg-ball moving at 2.0 m/s perpendicular to a wall rebounds from the wall at 1.5 m/s. The change in the momentum of the ball is:

At the same instant that a 0.50-kg ball is dropped from 25 m above Earth, a second ball, with a mass of 0.25 kg, is thrown straight upward from Earth's surface with an initial speed of 15 m/s. They move along nearby lines and pass without colliding. At the end of 2.0 s the velocity of the center of mass of the two-ball system is:

Block A, with a mass of 4 kg, is moving with a speed of 2.0 m/s while block B, with a mass of 8 kg, is moving in the opposite direction with a speed of 3 m/s. The center of mass of the two block-system is moving with the velocity of:

A 4.0-N puck is traveling at 3.0 m/s. It strikes an 8.0-N puck, which is stationary. The two pucks stick together. Their common final speed is:

A 5-kg object can move along the x axis. It is subjected to a force in the positive x direction; a graph of F as a function of time t is shown below. Over the time the force is applied the change in the velocity of the object is:

A large wedge with a mass of 10 kg rests on a horizontal frictionless surface, as shown. A block with a mass of 5.0 kg starts from rest and slides down the inclined surface of the wedge, which is rough. At one instant the vertical component of the block's velocity is of 3.0 m/s and the horizontal component is 6.0 m/s. At that instant the velocity of the wedge is:

The physical quantity "impulse" has the same dimensions as that of:

An inelastic collision is one in which: