Log in

View Full Version : Momentum and Colissions. Question: stationary life raft of mass 160kg is carrying t


Jenesco1
Feb 21, 2011, 01:40 AM
A stationary life raft of mass 160kg is carrying two survivors with masses of 55kg and 72kg, respectively. They dive off the raft at the same instant, the 55kg person East at 4.4m/s and the 72kg person North at 4.2m/s. At what speed and in what direction does the raft start to move?

Unknown008
Feb 21, 2011, 09:21 AM
Consider the momenta of the divers separately first.

Along the east-west direction, find the resultant velocity of the raft
Same for along the north-south direction.

Then, use vector addiction to add the velocities to get the final answer.