A knife thrower throws a knife toward a 300 g target that is sliding in her direction at a speed of 2.30 m/s on a horizontal frictionless surface. She throws a 22.5 g knife at the target with a speed of 40.0 m/s. The target is stopped by the impact and the knife passes through the target. Determine the speed of the knife (in m/s) after passing through the target.

The speed of the knife after passing through the target is 9.33 m/s.

Explanation:

We can find the speed of the knife after the impact by conservation of linear momentum:

Where:

: is the mass of the knife = 22.5 g = 0.0225 kg

: is the mass of the target = 300 g = 0.300 kg

: is the initial speed of the knife = 40.0 m/s

: is the initial speed of the target = 2.30 m/s

: is the final speed of the knife =?

: is the final speed of the target = 0 (it is stopped)

Taking as a positive direction the direction of the knife movement, we have:

Therefore, the speed of the knife after passing through the target is 9.33 m/s.

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see earlier answer