Calculating Velocity & Compass Heading After Car-Truck Collision

AI Thread Summary
A 1940 kg Oldsmobile traveling west at 17.4 m/s collides with a 4166 kg truck moving south at 9.5 m/s, resulting in both vehicles locking together post-impact. To find the wreckage's velocity immediately after the collision, the combined momentum of both vehicles must be calculated using vector addition. The speed can be determined using the momentum equation, while the direction requires trigonometric functions to find the compass heading. A vector diagram can visually represent the momenta and their resultant direction. The calculations yield both the speed and the angle of the wreckage after the collision.
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A 1940 kg Oldsmobile traveling west on Saginaw Street at 17.4 m/s is unable to stop on the ice covered intersection for a red light at Abbott Road. The car collides with a 4166 kg truck hauling animal feed south on Abbott at 9.5 m/s. The two vehicles remain locked together after the impact. Calculate the velocity of the wreckage immediately after the impact. Give the speed for your first answer and the compass heading for your second answer.
 
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Draw a picture of what is happening. Using a vector diagram of the momentums, you can see what the combined momentum would be and in what direction (adding vectors). Once you know that, you can solve for the speed by momentum equation. As for the angle, use those trig inverses.

Jameson
 
wow thanks! i don't know why i didnt get it before, even though people explained it to me the same way :-p
 

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