As shown in the figure below, we have three air carts (labeled #1, #2, and #3) on an air track. The carts are equipped with spring bumpers so that all collisions are elastic. The masses of the carts are m1 = 5m, m2 = 2m, and m3 = m. Initially, cart #1 is given a velocity to the right of magnitude v0 and the other carts are at rest. Determine the following.
(a) final speed of each cart (Indicate the direction with the sign of your answer.)
cart #1: 0.428 v0
cart #2: 0.476 v0
cart #3: 0.63 v0
(b) ratio of the total kinetic energy before any collision to the total kinetic energy after all collisions
Ki/Kf = 1