Question

I'm asked to show the calculations proving momentum is conserved with this data for a nonlinear collision.

Answer 1

What do I do with the Vx and Vy?

Answer 2

@welshfella
Call of duty here

Answer 3

Momentum = mass * velocity

Answer 4

the total momentum before the collision should equal the total momentum after the collision.

Answer 5

Momentum before the collision = 0.500 * 0.700 = 0.35

Answer 6

What about the y-component?

Answer 7

the y component is 0

Answer 8

after collision
x component = 1.5 * 0.341 + (0.5 -0.322)
y component = 0.5 * 0.170 + (1.5 8 -0.057)

the resulting momentum should equal 0.35

Answer 9

The x-component is 0.3505 and the y-component is -0.0005. Are these supposed to be added?

Answer 10

yes

Answer 11

So then we get 0.35

Answer 12

- which gives you 0.35 for the after collision total momentum

Answer 13

yea

Answer 14

The momentum before and after the collision are equal, so it is conserved

Answer 15

momentum is always conserved.

Answer 16

right

Answer 17

Thanks!

Answer 18

yw
note that momentum is a vector so its direction has to be taken into account
momentum to the right is usually taken to be positive.

Answer 19

Yes, the positive direction is indicated on the pictures above

Answer 20

so they are.

Answer 21

Thank you for good explanation. @welshfella