- #1
daselocution
- 23
- 0
Homework Statement
I am basically wondering how they got to the assumption that the Ve = 2Vα. I've tried it a few times and I keep on getting that based off of their other assumptions, Ve should =0, even though I know that this cannot possibly be the case.
Homework Equations
Conservation of momentum: Mava = Mav'a + meve
Conservation of energy: .5Mava2 = .5Mav'a2 + .5Meve2
The Attempt at a Solution
I really don't know what to do. I've tried starting under the assumption as given that Va≈Va', which leads to getting Ve=0. I tried to do a binomial expansion using the fact that Me<<Ma, but again I got zero. I'm really not sure how to approach this. Any help would be appreciated.