Driving his sled in the dark, Santa(s) collides with a polar bear (b).

Question

After some messy algebra, it can be shown that:

Vb = (2 ms Vos)/(ms + mb)

Vs = ((ms - mb)Vos)/(ms + mb)

What does this imply if Santa hi a cub?

What does this imply if Santa and the bear are the same mass?
Waht does this imply if Santa hits an ultrabear?

I'm not really sure about this problem

I'm assuming that the cub has less mass than the ultra bear

if i make this assumption then the final velocities are greater when he hits a cub rather than an ultra bear

also when they are the same mass there fianl velocities are the same zero...

by the way the b and s were subscripts

I guess I might not be seeing something obvous here...

Answer 1

i meant that sant's final velocity will be zero when both their masses are the same by the way not both of them only santas will be zero when they have the same masses

Answer 2

you have it exactly right, but also, what is santa's velocity if the bear is bigger: (Hint, what direction)