A dog with a mass of 15kg jumps forward at 0.50m/s to catch a frisbee coming in the opposite direction at 5m/s. the dog catches the frisbee in its mouth and in doing so its velocity drops to 0.45m/s. What was the mass of the frisbee?
To find the mass of the frisbee, we can apply the principle of conservation of momentum. In this scenario, no external forces are acting on the system consisting of the dog and the frisbee. Therefore, the total momentum before the catch should be equal to the total momentum after the catch.
The momentum of an object is given by the equation:
momentum = mass x velocity
Initially, the momentum of the dog can be calculated as:
momentum of the dog before = mass of the dog x velocity of the dog before
momentum of the dog before = 15 kg x 0.50 m/s
After the catch, we have:
momentum of the dog + momentum of the frisbee = 0 (because the velocity of the system drops to zero)
The momentum of the dog after the catch can be calculated as:
momentum of the dog after = mass of the dog x velocity of the dog after
momentum of the dog after = 15 kg x 0.45 m/s
Now, let's find the mass of the frisbee:
mass of the frisbee = -(momentum of the dog after) / velocity of the frisbee
mass of the frisbee = -(15 kg x 0.45 m/s) / 5 m/s (considering the negative sign due to the opposite direction of momentum)
mass of the frisbee = -6.75 kg / 5 m/s
mass of the frisbee ≈ -1.35 kg
Since mass cannot be negative, we can conclude that there was an error in the calculations or the given information. Please check the values provided and try again.