A diesel locomotive coasting at 10 km/h has an inelastic collision with a stationary flatcar. The locomotive weighs four times as much as the flatcar. How fast does the locomotive-flatcar combination move when stuck together?

What will be an ideal response?


Answer: Momentum before collision = momentum after collision.
masslocomotive × 10 km/h. = (masslocomotive + massflatcar) × v.
So v = masslocomotive /(masslocomotive + massflatcar) × 10 km/h. Or,
v = 4 massflatcar/(4 + 1) massflatcar × 10 km/h = 8 km/h. So the coupled cars move at 8 km/h.

Physics & Space Science

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