Question

Mass 1 is moving at 2 m/s in the +x direction and it collides inelastically with mass 2 of 19 kg moving at 14 m/s in the + x direction. 132 Joules of KE is lost in this collision. What is the average force on mass 1 if the collision takes place in 0.2 seconds? Answer in Newtons. The answer is 110 but how do I solve it.

Answer 1

Let us consider, the mass of first body is m and after collision two mass will combine and will move with a velocity v. Therefore, according to momentum conservation principle, you can obtain

In this inelastic collision, 132 J of KE lost, Therefore, you can write

Putting the values from above, you can obtain

Putting the value of m in the above expression for v, you can obtain

which is in +Ve x-direction

Now, the average force on mass 1 will be