A 55.0 kg high school baseball pitcher is holding a 149 g baseball as he slides horizontally on a frictionless surface with a velocity of +2.15 m/s, relative to the surface. He then throws the baseball with a velocity of +46.7 m/s relative to the surface. What is the player’s velocity after he releases the baseball?

initialmomentum=0

final momentum=initial momentum=0
massman*velocityman+massball*velocityball=0

solve for velocityman

so do you plug the value in for the velocity of the man or no. either way this is too big of a number. The answer is 2.01 but I can't get that?

To find the player's velocity after releasing the baseball, we can use the principle of conservation of momentum. According to this principle, the total momentum before the throw is equal to the total momentum after the throw.

The momentum of an object can be calculated by multiplying its mass by its velocity. In this case, we have two objects: the player and the baseball. Let's calculate their momenta separately.

The momentum of the player before throwing the baseball can be calculated as follows:
Player's momentum before = player's mass * player's velocity before

Given:
- Player's mass = 55.0 kg
- Player's velocity before = +2.15 m/s

Player's momentum before = 55.0 kg * 2.15 m/s

Next, let's calculate the momentum of the baseball before the throw. It can be calculated as follows:
Baseball's momentum before = baseball's mass * baseball's velocity before

Given:
- Baseball's mass = 149 g = 0.149 kg (convert grams to kilograms)
- Baseball's velocity before = +2.15 m/s (same as the player's velocity before)

Baseball's momentum before = 0.149 kg * 2.15 m/s

Now, let's calculate the momentum of the player after throwing the baseball. It can be calculated as follows:
Player's momentum after = player's mass * player's velocity after

Given:
- Player's mass = 55.0 kg
- Player's velocity after = ?

We need to find the player's velocity after releasing the baseball. To do that, we can rearrange the equation for momentum:

Player's velocity after = Player's momentum after / Player's mass

The total momentum before the throw is equal to the total momentum after the throw, so we can write the equation as follows:

(Player's momentum before + Baseball's momentum before) = (Player's momentum after)

Substituting the values we previously calculated:

(55.0 kg * 2.15 m/s + 0.149 kg * 2.15 m/s) = (Player's momentum after)

Now, we can solve for Player's momentum after and then plug it back into the equation to find the Player's velocity after.

(Player's momentum before + Baseball's momentum before) = (55.0 kg * Player's velocity after)

Once we have the Player's momentum after, dividing it by the Player's mass will give us the Player's velocity after.