Consider a model of two cars colliding, as in Figure 6.33. Car B was traveling south with speed vB and car A was traveling northeast at angle θ1 and at speed vA when they collided. After the crash, the two cars stuck together and skidded off at angle θ2. Each driver claimed to be traveling at the speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/hr) and each claimed to have slowed down but collided anyway because the other car was speeding. Assume the mass of car A is mA and the mass of car B is mB.

a. Assume that mB/mA = 0.9. If θ1 = 40◦ and θ2 = 15◦, which car was going faster?

b. What was the speed of the faster of the two cars if the slower car was indeed going at the speed limit?

 

North 9, 4 B A