Question

A 1.0kg bomb explodes into three pieces, A, B, and C. After the explosion piece A (300g) travels along the positive x-axis with a speed of 300m/s. Piece B (500g) travels along the negative y-axis with a speed of 400m/s. Find the velocity of piece C.

Answer 1

Let the mass of the third piece be m

by the conservation of mass we have

1000 = 300 + 500 + m

m = 200 g

let the x-component of piece c be Vx and y-component of piece C be Vy

COnserving the momentum in x-direction we have

300*300 = (200*Vx)

Vx = 450 m/s

conserving the momentum in y-direction we have

500*-400 = (200)*Vy

Vy = -1000 m/s

so velocity of piece C = sqrt(450^2 + 1000^2) = 1096.6 m/s

angle = tan^-1(1000 /450) = 65.77⁰ below the horizontal in clockwise direction