Question

A perfectly elastic collision occurs between a 15.0-kg mass traveling at 3.50 m/s and a 9.00-kg mass traveling at 2.35 m/s. if the final velocity of the 9.00-kg mass is 2.80 m/s, what is the final velocity of the 15.0-kg mass?

Answer 1

Momentum is conserved in a collision. Momentum is mass*velocity, so you can find your answer by calculating initial and final momentums and setting them equal to each other.

15kg * 3.50 m/s + 9kg * 2.35 m/s = 73.65 kg m/s

73.65 = 9 * 2.8 + 15x

solve for x
x= 3.23

The final velocity is 3.23 m/s