Question

The largest railway gun ever built was called Gustav and was used briefly in World War II. The gun, mount, and train car had a total mass of 1.22 106 kg. The gun fired a projectile that was 80.0 cm in diameter and weighed 7502 kg. In the firing illustrated in the figure, the gun has been elevated at è = 18.2° above the horizontal. If the railway gun was at rest before firing and moved to the right at a speed v = 4.27 m/s immediately after firing, what was the speed of the projectile as it left the barrel (muzzle velocity)?

Answer 1

The horizontal component of total momentum remained zero. Use that fact, and the rail car recoil velocity, to compute the muzzle velocity.