Question

A 68.0-kg person throws a 0.0420-kg snowball forward with a ground speed of 30.5 m/s. A second person, with a mass of 59.5 kg, catches the snowball. Both people are on skates. The first person is initially moving forward with a speed of 3.30 m/s, and the second person is initially at rest. What are the velocities of the two people after the snowball is exchanged? Disregard the friction between the skates and the ice. (Take the direction the snowball is thrown to be the positive direction. Indicate the direction with the sign of your answer.)

Answer 1

This is a conservation of momentum problem.

For Person 1(the person who throws the snowball)

where is the mass of the person, is the mass of the snowball, is the inital velocity of the person holding the snowball, is the velocity of the snowball and is the velocity of Person 1 after he throws the snowball.

Substituting our values, we get

For Person 2

Substituting our values, we get