Question

At the circus, a 100.-kilogram clown is fired at 15 meters per second from a 500.- kilogram cannon. What is the recoil speed of the cannon?
(1) 75 m/s
(3) 3.0 m/s
(2) 15 m/s
(4) 5.0 m/s​

Please answer this quickly I'm dying

Answer 1

The recoil velocity of cannon is (4) 5.0 m/s

Explanation:

We can find the recoil velocity from the law of conservation of momentum.

The recoil velocity is velocity of body 2 after release of body 1, i.e. velocity of cannon after release of clown.

Let v2 be cannon's velocity, v1 be clown's velocity given = 15 m/sec

m1 be clown's mass = 100kg and m2 be cannon's mass given = 500kg.

So recoil velocity of cannon v2 is given by,

v2 = -(m1÷m2)v1

v2 = -(100÷500)15

v2 = -5 m/s

where the minus sign refers to the direction of cannon's recoil velocity being opposite to that of clown.

Hence, option (4)5.0 m/s is the correct answer.

Answer 2

Answer:

(3) 3.0 m/s

Explanation:

Data:

clown mass, m1 = 100 kg

cannon mass, m2 = 500 kg

clown speed, v1 = 15 m/s

cannon speed, v2 = ?

From the law of conservation of momentum, the momentum of the two bodies must be equal in magnitude, notice that the velocity of the bodies have opposite directions. Therefore, the magnitude of momentum is computed as follows:

m1*v1 = m2*v2

100*15 = 500*v2

v2 = 100*15/500

v2 = 3 m/s