Two identical gliders slide toward each other on an air track. One moves at 2 m/s and the other at 1 m/s. If they stick together, the combination slides at? Why?

When the two gliders collide and stick together, the resulting combined glider will have a velocity that is the average of the velocities of the two gliders before the collision.

In this case, one glider is moving at 2 m/s and the other at 1 m/s. The average of these two velocities is (2 + 1) / 2 = 3 / 2 = 1.5 m/s.

Therefore, when the two gliders stick together, the combination will slide at a velocity of 1.5 m/s.

To find the speed at which the combination of the two gliders slide, we can apply the principle of conservation of momentum.

The momentum of an object is the product of its mass and velocity. Since the gliders are identical, they have the same mass. Let's assume the mass of each glider is m.

The momentum of the first glider is given by P1 = m * 2 m/s = 2m.
The momentum of the second glider is given by P2 = m * 1 m/s = m.

When the gliders stick together, the total momentum of the system remains constant. This means that the sum of the momentum before the collision is equal to the sum of the momentum after the collision.

P1 + P2 = P_combination

Substituting the given values:
2m + m = P_combination
3m = P_combination

We can see that the combined momentum is 3m.

Since the mass of the combined system is 2m (the sum of the individual masses), we can find the velocity of the combined system by dividing the momentum by the mass:

Velocity_combination = (P_combination) / (2m) = (3m) / (2m) = 3/2 m/s

Hence, when the two gliders stick together, they will slide together at a speed of 3/2 m/s.

conservation of momentum

2-1=(2)V
v=.5m/s in the direction of the original 2m/s velocity