Question

A honeybee with a mass of 0.150 g lands on one end of a floating 4.75-g popsicle stick, as shown in (Figure 1) . After sitting at rest for a moment, it runs toward the other end with a velocity v⃗ b relative to the still water. The stick moves in the opposite direction with a speed of 0.140 cm/s.
What is the velocity of the bee? (Let the direction of the bee's motion be the positive x direction.)

Express your answer to three significant figures and include appropriate units.

Answer 1

Answer:

0.0443 m/s

Explanation:

$m_1$ = Mass of honeybee = 0.15 g

$m_2$ = Mass of popsicle stick = 4.75 g

$v_1$ = Velocity of honeybee

$v_2$ = Velocity of stick = 0.14 cm/s

In this system the linear momentum is conserved

$m_1v_1=m_2v_2\\\Rightarrow v_1=\dfrac{m_2v_2}{m_1}\\\Rightarrow v_1=\dfrac{4.75\times 0.14}{0.15}\\\Rightarrow v_1=4.43\ m/s$

The velocity of the bee is 4.43 cm/s or 0.0443 m/s