How Fast Must a Camper Slide to Reach the Shore by Throwing Rocks?

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The discussion revolves around a physics problem involving a camper stranded on a frictionless frozen lake who attempts to reach the shore by throwing a bag of rocks. The camper weighs 71 kg and the bag of rocks weighs 10 kg, thrown at a velocity of 6.0 m/s. The key principle discussed is the conservation of momentum, where the force exerted by the camper on the rocks results in an equal and opposite force on the camper. The total momentum of the camper and the rocks remains constant, allowing for the calculation of the camper's velocity after throwing the rocks. The problem emphasizes the relationship between mass, velocity, and momentum in a frictionless environment.
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Homework Statement


An adventurous camper (71 kg) finds him/her self stranded in the middle of a frozen lake (diameter = 1.3 km) with only a bag of rocks (total mass 10.0 kg). The ice is so slippery, that they move about the lake's surface without friction (don't ask me how they got there in the first place). Remembering what they learned in a physics lab, they devise a way to get themselves to the edge of the lake by throwing the bag of rocks in the opposite direction of the shore with a velocity of 6.0 m/s. If they throw the rocks all at once, how long does it take for them to slide to shore?

Homework Equations


The topic of the lab was elastic and inelastic collisions, however this problem doesn't really have to do with the other questions.
Sum of Fx=ma

The Attempt at a Solution


Since it's on a friction-less surface, I know that the sum of the forces in the x direction is equal to ma, and that the velocity is what causes the camper and his rocks to keep moving, however I don't know where to go from there. I've tried using some of the kinematics formulas to try to solve for t, but I can't seem to get it right.
 
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soto2018 said:

Homework Statement


An adventurous camper (71 kg) finds him/her self stranded in the middle of a frozen lake (diameter = 1.3 km) with only a bag of rocks (total mass 10.0 kg). The ice is so slippery, that they move about the lake's surface without friction (don't ask me how they got there in the first place). Remembering what they learned in a physics lab, they devise a way to get themselves to the edge of the lake by throwing the bag of rocks in the opposite direction of the shore with a velocity of 6.0 m/s. If they throw the rocks all at once, how long does it take for them to slide to shore?

Homework Equations


The topic of the lab was elastic and inelastic collisions, however this problem doesn't really have to do with the other questions.

Welcome to PF!

If you reverse time it is the usual inelastic collision. :D

When the man throws the bag of ball, he exerts F force at the bag and the bag exerts F force at the man in the opposite direction. There is no external force, so the change of the total momentum of the system man + bag is zero.
During their interaction, the acceleration of bag is abag=F/mbag and the acceleration of the man is aman=-F/mman. The man exerts force on the bag for a very short Δt time. Assuming constant F the velocity of the bag is Vbag=F/mbag Δt and the velocity of the man is Vman=-F/mman Δt , that is Vman mman + Vbag mbag=0. You know the masses and the velocity of the bag. What is the velocity of the man?
 
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