Question

Cart 1 Cart 2 Cart 1 Cart 2 no m/s LO After Collision Before Collision Two lab carts have the same mass and are free to move on a horizontal track. The carts' wheels have negligible mass. Cart 1 travels to the right at 1.0 m/s and collides with cart 2, which is initially at rest, as shown at left above. Cart 2 has a compressed spring-loaded plunger with a non-negligible amount of stored energy. During the collision, the spring-loaded plunger pops out, staying in contact with cart 1 for 0.10 seconds as the spring decompresses. Negligible mechanical energy dissipates during the collision. Taking rightwards as positive, give two combinations of values that the carts' velocities could be after the collision and provide mathematical evidence to support your claim.

Answer 1

As there is no any external forces on two cart system (spring force would be internal force) so the momentum of the system would be conserved before and after the collision. So the velocity of two would be anything that follows momentum conservation.

Hence first combination could be v1= -0.2m/s and v2= 1.2 m/s

As v1+v2=1 m/s (I'm just adding velocity because all are of same mass so mass would be cancelled both side.)

Again the second combination could be v1= 0.5m/s and v2=1.5 m/s