Question

A 100 kilogram clown is fired 15 meters per second from a 500-kilogram cannon. What is the recoil speed of the cannon?

Answer 1

The recoil speed of the cannon is 3 m/s.

Explanation:

Law of conservation of momentum is used to find the recoil speed of the cannon.

m₁v₁ = -m₂v₂

m₁= mass of clown = 100 kg

v₁ = speed of the clown = 15 m/s

m₂= mass of the cannon = 500 kg

v₂ = speed of the cannon = ?

Plugin the values, we will get,

v₂ = m₁v₁ / -m₂ = -100×15/ 500 = -1500 / 500   = 3 m/s

So the recoil speed of the cannon is 3 m/s.