Question

Three identical boxcars are coupled together and are moving at a constant speed of $20.0 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s}$ on a level track. They collide with another identical boxcar that is initially at rest and couple to it, so that the four cars roll on as a unit. Friction is small enough to be ignored. (a) What is the speed of the four cars? (b) What percentage of the kinetic energy of the boxcars is dissipated in the collision? What happened to this energy?

Name: Three identical boxcars are coupled together and are moving at a constant speed of 20.0 m / s on a level track. They collide with another identical boxcar that is initially at rest and couple to it, so that the four cars roll on as a unit. Friction is small enough to be ignored. (a) What is the speed of the four cars? (b) What percentage of the kinetic energy of the boxcars is dissipated in the collision? What happened to this energy?
Uploaded: 2022-09-01T12:16:55-08:00
Duration: 4 min 59 s
Channel: Adi S

          Three identical boxcars are coupled together and are moving at a constant speed of $20.0 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s}$ on a level track. They collide with another identical boxcar that is initially at rest and couple to it, so that the four cars roll on as a unit. Friction is small enough to be ignored. (a) What is the speed of the four cars? (b) What percentage of the kinetic energy of the boxcars is dissipated in the collision? What happened to this energy?

Added by Kevin C.

University Physics with Modern Physics

Hugh D. Young 14th Edition

Instant Answer

Solved by Expert Adi S

09/01/2022

Step 1

0 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s}$. When they collide with the fourth boxcar at rest, they couple together and continue to move as a unit. Since the boxcars are identical, the mass of each boxcar is the same. Let's denote the mass of each boxcar as $m$. Before the Show more…

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Three identical boxcars are coupled together and are moving at a constant speed of $20.0 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s}$ on a level track. They collide with another identical boxcar that is initially at rest and couple to it, so that the four cars roll on as a unit. Friction is small enough to be ignored. (a) What is the speed of the four cars? (b) What percentage of the kinetic energy of the boxcars is dissipated in the collision? What happened to this energy?