Asked by aw2

In a lab, two identical lab carts (m = 1.0 kg) travel toward each other, each with a speed of 2 m/s. The cars collide, and one cart moves to the right with a speed of 3 m/s and the other moves left with a speed of 2 m/s.

What best explains the results of the experiment?

This experiment did not occur in a closed system.
This proves the conservation of momentum since pi = pf .
An additional mass was added to one cart, which explains the increase in speed.
The increase in speed was due to the kinetic energy from one cart transferring to the other.

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Answer: This experiment did not occur in a closed system.

Reason: initial total momentum = m(2) + m(−2) = 0. Final total momentum = m(3) + m(−2) = 1 kg·m/s, so momentum changed — momentum is not conserved, therefore an external impulse acted on the system. (Also the total kinetic energy increased from 4 J to 6.5 J, which requires external work, not just an internal transfer.)