Question

Scenario: A cart moves on straight and frictionless rails. The cart carries a passenger and their tools including a shovel. A snowstorm starts. The passenger does one of the following things:

a. the passenger does nothing

b. the passenger grabs a shovel and disposes of snow accumulated in the cart by throwing it off sideways (relative to the cart, the snow is thrown perpendicularly to the direction of the motion of the cart)

c. the passenger grabs a shovel and disposes of snow accumulated in the cart by throwing it off from the back of the cart (opposite to the direction of the cart motion)

In which case does the passenger arrive at their destination the soonest? the latest?

Answer 1

This is clear case of conservation of momentum .

When you throw snow backwards it will provide net momentum to the cart in forward direction . Which increases the speed of cart in forward direction so passenger c will reach destination faster than a and b .

So answer is option c