Question

A 10gm bullet is shot from a 5kg gun with a velocity of 400 m/s. What is the speed of recoil of the gun?

Answer 1

From conservation of momentum

Recoil velocity of gun = -mu / M
= -(10 × 10^-3 kg × 400 m/s) / 5 kg
= -0.8 m/s
[-ve sign indicates that gun moves in the direction opposite to that of bullet]

∴ Recoil speed of gun is 0.8 m/s