A compressed spring is compressed between a 5kg and 3 kg cart, respectively. When the spring is released, what will be the same
1 answer:
The momentum of the two carts will be the same
Explanation:
First of all, we notice that the system consisting of the two carts + the spring is an isolated system: this means that there are no external forces acting on it.
As a result, the total momentum of the system must be conserved.
Since the spring is at rest, the total momentum of the system after the two carts are released is:
where
is the momentum of the 1st cart
is the momentum of the 2nd cart
The total momentum of the system at the beginning, when the spring is compressed, is zero:
Since the total momentum must be conserved, we have:
Which means that the two carts will have equal and opposite momenta.
Learn more about momentum:
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