A railroad car with a mass of [tex]1.94 \times 10^4 \, \text{kg}[/tex] moving at [tex]3.28 \, \text{m/s}[/tex] joins with two railroad cars already joined together, each with the same mass as the single car and initially moving in the same direction at [tex]1.02 \, \text{m/s}[/tex].
What is the velocity after the collision and the total kinetic energy lost?
Answer (3)
the total cost is going to be 536 kg
To determine the final velocity of the system after a collision, the principle of conservation of momentum is used. Momentum is the product of mass and velocity of each car. The kinetic energy lost is the difference in total kinetic energy before and after the collision. ;
The final velocity after the collision is approximately 1.77 m/s, and the total kinetic energy lost is about 73,300 J. This is determined using the conservation of momentum and kinetic energy formulas.
;
