A student flings a 23g ball of putty at a 225g cart sitting on a slanted air track that is 1.5m long. The track is slanted at an angle of 25deg with the horizontal. If the putty is traveling at 4.2m/s when it hits the cart, will the cart reach the end of the track before it stops and slides back down? Support your answer with calculations

4 answers

Wouldn't it matter the direction the putty was traveling?

I am not going to work this for you. I will be happy to critique your thinknig.
I tried solving this by separating the components into the vertical and horizontal, before and after collision. but i only obtain velocity and the deg, however the questions asks for the distance...
Note that the putty and the card will move together after they gained momentum, meaning the putty will stick on the cart. Thus first let's calculate the velocity of the putty and the cart together after the momentum:
Lets mp, mc, vp, and vc represent the mass of the putty, mass of the cart, speed of the putty, and speed of the cart. And Vpc represent the speed of the cart and the putty together:
Based on the principle of conservation of momentum, we have:
mpvp + mcvc = mpv'p + mcv'c

since the cart was stationary, vc = 0; and since the putty and the cart moves together after they gained momentum, the V'pc represent their velocity after momentum. Then we will get the following equation:
mpvp = (mp + mc) V'pc

V'pc = mpvp / (mp + mc)

V'pc = (0.023 Kg * 4.2m/s) / (0.023 kg + 0.225 Kg)

V'pc = 0.3895m/s

and from the conservation of energy we have,

Ek = Eg

1/2*mcp*v^2 = mcp * g * h, where mcp represent the mass of the putty and the cart together

1/2*v^2 = g*h , after we devide both sides of the above equation by mcp

then, h = v^2/2g

h = (0.3895)^2/(2*9.81)

h = 7.732 * 10^-3

and we know that ;

sin25 = h/hypotenuse, where hypotenuse is the distance the cart and the putty travels
hypotenuse = h / sin25
hypotenuse =( 7.32 * 10^-3) / sin25

hypotenuse = 0.0182964849

hypotenuse = 0.018m

the distance that the cart and the putty travels together is equal to the hypotenuse, which is 0.018m Thus, the cart don't make the end of the track, which his 1.5 m long, before it stops.
The last calculation: 0.007732/sin25=0.02020 not 0.018