Students are testing their physics understanding by filling a pumpkin with an ex
ID: 1432724 • Letter: S
Question
Students are testing their physics understanding by filling a pumpkin with an explosive material. The pumpkin of total mass M+m moves on a frictionless horizontal table in a straight line in the positive x-direction. It explodes and breaks up into two fragments of mass M and m, respectively. The figure shows a top view of the table. Immediately after the explosion, the fragment of mass m moves with speed v at an angle above the positive xdirection; the fragment of mass M moves at an angle below the positive x-direction. Startled by the explosion, the students failed to record the initial speed of the pumpkin and the final speed of the fragment of mass M. Derive an expression for the speed of the pumpkin before the explosion, in terms of system parameters.
Explanation / Answer
here linear momentum remain conserve
momentum in x direction
(M+m)*vi = mv cos theta + Mv cos phi
in y direction
0 = m* vsin theta - Mv sin phi
vi = (mv cos theta + Mv cos phi ) / (M+m)