Puck Collision

Consider a system of two pucks on a frictionless surface. An orange puck moving with velocity \(\vec{v\_{oi}}\) collides with a blue puck that is initially at rest. At the time of the collision, a small explosion injects 19 \(J\) of energy into the system. Afterwards, the pucks move as shown in the figure below.

Long Description of image: Figure of the system described.

Before the collision. The orange puck moves with horizontal velocity v_oi (o for orange and i for initial) towards the right. The blue puck is at rest.
After the collision. Both pucks move in opposite directions. The orange puck moves with a velocity v_of (f for final) at an angle theta with respect to the positive x-axis. The blue puck moves with a velocity v_bf (b for blue) at an angle phi with respect to the positive x-axis.

Long description ends.

Part 1

Which of the statements below best describes how the system’s momentum and kinetic energy change after the collision and explosion?

Answer Section

• momentum increases, kinetic energy increases

• momentum increases, kinetic energy is unchanged

• momentum is unchanged, kinetic energy increases

• momentum is unchanged, kinetic energy is unchanged

Attribution

Problem is licensed under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.