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Car rolls into truck and bounces off gently

A car of mass m1 = 2000 kg rolling slowly at vi = 5 m/s bumps into a stationary truck of mass m2 = 15,000 kg. Afterwards, the car moves backwards with velocity v1f, and the truck creeps forward at v2f.

Which of the following are the final velocities?

  1. car 5.0 m/s to the left, truck 1.33 m/s to the right
  2. car 2.0 m/s to the left, truck 0.93 m/s to the right
  3. car 1.0 m/s to the left, truck 0.53 m/s to the right

Creative Commons License Copyright © Michael Richmond. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.