Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

Car A rear-ends Car B, which has triple the mass of A, on an icy road at a speed

ID: 2192088 • Letter: C

Question

Car A rear-ends Car B, which has triple the mass of A, on an icy road at a speed low enough so that the collision is essentially elastic. Car B is stopped at a light when it is struck. Car A has mass m and speed v before the collision. After the collision: (a) the momentum of car B is three times as great in magnitude as that of car A. (b) car A stops and car B has momentum 3mv. (c) each car has half the momentum. (d) car A stops and car B has a momentum mv. (e) each car has half of the kinetic energy.

Explanation / Answer

ans is C