A firecracker of mass lying at rest on a horizontal frictionless table explodes into…
PHYSICS · Subjective · CBSE · Physics · Laws of Motion · Laws of Motion
Problem
A firecracker of mass 0.40kg lying at rest on a horizontal frictionless table explodes into three fragments of masses 0.10kg, 0.15kg and 0.15kg. After the explosion, the 0.10kg fragment moves with velocity 3ms−1 along the positive x-axis, while one 0.15kg fragment moves with velocity 2ms−1 along the positive y-axis.
(i) Give a brief explanation why external forces on the three-fragment system can be neglected during the explosion.
(ii) Determine the velocity (magnitude and direction) of the remaining 0.15kg fragment.
(iii) Using your result from part (ii), verify explicitly that the total linear momentum of the three-fragment system is conserved.