How Do You Calculate Original Velocity from Momentum in a Two-Spacecraft System?

[peanut15]

spacecraft that are linked together are then thrust apart by large springs,

S1 has a mass of 1.9x10^4 kg, then has a velocity of 3.5x10^3km/h at 5.1 degrees to the original direction..

S2 has a mass of 1.7x10^4kg and a velocity of 3.4x10^3km/h at 5.9 degrees to the original direction.


I just want to double check to make sure I solved this correctly.


3. I converted km/h into m/s. Then I calculated each spaceships momentum using P=mv and resolved each spaceship into its own component vector.

I figured the X in each component vector would add up to the original total momentum of the 2 spaceships when they were linked together, because Pt = P1+P2

I solved each x compenent using X=Pcos(theta) then I added them together to get the total momentum.

I also added the mass of the two spaceships together to get the total mass when they were linked together.

Using both of these values I used P=mv to calculate the original velocity of the two spaceships when they were linked together.

I'm not worried about any math errors, just the errors in any steps that I took. Thanks a lot.

 

[Redbelly98]

Looks good!

By the way, it's probably not necessary to convert the velocities into m/s. Since they were giving you km/h velocities, that more or less implies that an answer in km/h is acceptable.