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Grade upto college level Mechanics

Twelve 100.0-kg containers of rocket parts in empty space are loosely tethered by ropes tied together at a common point. The center of mass of the twelve containers is originally at rest. A 50-kg lump of space-goo moving at 80 m/s collides with one of the containers and sticks to it. (a) Assuming that none of the tethers break, find the speed of the center of mass of the twelve containers after of the struck container does break, find the speed of the center of mass of the twelve containers after the collision.

Profile image of Shane Macguire
11 Years agoGrade upto college level
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1 Answer

Profile image of Deepak Patra
11 Years ago
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Therefore, the velocity of center of mass of the system containing 12 cylinders and the pace-goo stick to one of the cylinders is 3.2 m/s .
(b) When the cylinders breaks after collision, the velocity of center of mass of the system remains unchanged because the breaking effect occurs due to internal forces, and they do not account for any change in velocity of center of mass.
Therefore, the velocity of the center of mass when the cylinder breaks is 3.2 m/s.