Stuck Together Collision#

A perfectly inelastic collision occurs between an object of mass \(m\) initially travelling along the positive \(x\)-axis at speed \(v\), and an object of mass 3\(m\) initially travelling along the positive \(y\)-axis at the same speed \(v\). Following the collision the objects stick together and travel at a final speed \(v_f\) at an angle \(\theta\) degrees from the positive \(x\)-axis as shown in the figure below.

A before picture, displaying a small mass travelling to the right at velocity v and a larger mass travelling up at velocity v, and an after picture, where the two masses are now stuck together and travelling at some velocity v sub f at an angle theta above the positive x-axis.

Part 1#

The value of the angle \(\theta\) is:

Answer Section#

  • 18.4 \(^\circ\)

  • 60.0 \(^\circ\)

  • 71.6 \(^\circ\)

  • 76.0 \(^\circ\)

  • 81.9 \(^\circ\)

Attribution#

Problem is licensed under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
The Creative Commons 4.0 license requiring attribution-BY, non-commercial-NC, and share-alike-SA license.