Question

You place a 0.11-kg sonic ranger on a low-friction track in front of a 0.50-kg cart to measure the cart's velocity in the Earth reference frame, which turns out to be +(1.0m/s)ι^. You are distracted, the cart hits the ranger in a totally inelastic collision, and the two objects then move forward together. A friend is running toward the cart with a velocity of −(2.9m/s)ι^ with her sonic ranger on and pointed at the cart.
(a) What is the x-component of the momentum of the cart, with the ranger stuck to it, in your friend's reference frame?
(b)Determine the x-component of the velocity her sonic ranger measures for the cart after the collision.

Answer 1