To determine the velocity of a pellet fin a gun.a piece of plasticine of mass 50kg is balanced at the edge of the table such that tlit fails to falloff .a pellet of mass 10g is fired horizontally into the plasticine and remains embedded in it. as a result the plasticine reaches the floor at a horizontal distance of 0.25m away from the edge of the table.

Question

To determine the velocity of a pellet fin a gun.a piece of plasticine of mass 50kg is balanced at the edge of the table such that tlit fails to falloff .a pellet of mass 10g is fired horizontally into the plasticine and remains embedded in it. as a result the plasticine reaches the floor at a horizontal distance of 0.25m away from the edge of the table. 
1.whats the horizontal velocity of the plasticine given that the table surface is 0.6m high.?
2.whats the velocity of the pellet just before it hit the plasticine? 
3.whats the velocity of the plasticine just before impact with the floor at the horizontal distance of 0.25m?

bobpursley · Answer

time to fall .6 meters:
time= sqrt(2h/g) where h=.6, g=9.8
horizonal velocity= distance/time=.25/timeabove

velocity before impact: (conservation of momentum)
vp*mp=(mp+50)*horizontalvelocityabove
solve for vp, mass pellet=.01kg mp

velocity of plasticine:
vertical velocity=g*timeinflight
velocity at impact= sqrt (verticalvelocity^2 + horizontalvelocityabove^2)