Question

A cannon is mounted on a railway flatcar, the muzzle elevated to 33.8° and pointed in the direction of the track. The cannon fires a 1.20-metric-ton projectile at 0.80 km/s.

(a) If the flatcar and cannon together have a mass of 36.0 metric tons (not including the projectile), what is the initial recoil speed of the flatcar?
m/s

(b) In this problem, it appears that momentum in the y-direction is not conserved. Explain what happens to it.

Answer 1