A bus and a car have an inelastic head-on collision. The bus has a mass of 1.5 × 103 kilograms and an initial velocity of +20 meters/second. The car has a mass of 9.5 × 102 kilograms and an initial velocity of -26 meters/second. What is their total momentum after the collision?

Answer 1

just add the two momenta. The total will remain unchanged.

1.5*10^3 * 20 - 9.5*10^2 * 26 = -5.3*10^3 kg-m/s