Question

Elena (60.0 kg) and Madison (65.0 kg) are ice-skating at the Rockefeller ice rink in New Yok city. Their friend Tanner sees Elena move to the right with a speed of 1.20 m/s towards Madison. Madison is moving to the left at a speed of 2.50 m/s towards Elena.
1. What is Elena's momentum? (Assume the positive direction is to the right and the negative direction is to the left.)
2, What is Madison's momentum? (Assume the positive direction is to the right and the negative direction is to the left.)
3. What is the total momentum of Elena and Madison?
4. When Elena and Madison collide, they hold onto each other. With what speed and in what direction do both of them move at?

Answer 1

1. +72.0 kg m/s

The momentum of an object is given by:

p = mv

where

m is the mass of the object

v is its velocity

Taking "to the right" as positive direction, for Elena we have

m = 60.0 kg is the mass

v = +1.20 m/s is the velocity

So, Elena's momentum is

$p_e=(60.0 kg)(+1.20 m/s)=+72.0 kg m/s$

2. -162.5 kg m/s

Here Madison is moving in the opposite direction of Elena (to the left), so her velocity is

v = -2.50 m/s

while her mass is

m = 65.0 kg

Therefore, her momentum is

$p_m= (65.0 kg)(-2.50 m/s)=-162.5 kg m/s$

3. -90.5 kg m/s

The total momentum of Elena and Madison is equal to the algebraic sum of their momenta; taking into account the correct signs, we have:

$p=p_e + p_m = +72.0 kg m/s - 162.5 kg m/s =-90.5 kg m/s$

4. 0.72 m/s to the left

We can find the final speed of Elena and Madison by using the law of conservation of momentum. In fact, the final momentum must be equal to the initial momentum (before the collision).

The initial momentum is the one calculated at the previous step:

$p_i = -90.5 kg m/s$

while the final momentum (after the collision) is given by

$p_f = (m_e + m_m) v$

where

$m_e$ is Elena's mass

$m_m$ is Madison's mass

v is their final velocity

According to the law of conservation of momentum,

$p_i = p_f\\p_i = (m_e + m_m) v$

So we can find v:

$v=\frac{p_i}{m_e + m_m}=\frac{-90.5 kg m/s}{60.0 kg+65.0 kg}=-0.72 m/s$

and the direction is to the left, since the sign is negative.