(a) under what circumstances would the reduced mass of a two-body system be equal to three mass of one of the bodies? Explain. (b) What is the reduced mass if the bodies have equal mass ? (c) Do cases (a) and (b) give the extreme values of the reduced mass?

(a) The reduced mass of a two body system be equal to the mass of one of the bodies, if, one body is collide with the other body.
If a body having mass m1 collides with the other body having mass m2, then the reduced mass M of the two body system would be,

(c) The reduced mass M is always smaller than either mass. If one of the masses is very much smaller than the other, then the reduced mass M is roughly equal to the smaller mass.
If the masses are equal (m₁ = m₂ = m), then the reduced mass M is half as large as either mass.