Question

8. Object A has a momentum of 80 Ns and collides and sticks to object B which has a momentum of -30 Ns. What is the momentum of object AB once it sticks together?

Answer 1

Given,

The momentum of the object A before the collision, p₁ =80 Ns

The momentum of the object B before the collision, p₂=-30 Ns

Given that the objects stick together after the collision.

From the law of conservation of momentum, the total momentum of a system should always remain the same. Thus the total momentum of the objects before the collision must be equal to the total momentum of the objects after the collision.

Thus,

$p_1+p_2=p$

Where p is the total momentum of the system at any instant of time.

On substituting the known values,

$\begin{gathered} p=80-30 \\ =50\text{ Ns} \end{gathered}$

Therefore the total momentum of the system is 50 Ns

Thus the momentum of the object AB after the collision is 50 Ns