Question

A cannonball is fired to the west at an angle of 60 degrees above the horizontal, with a velocity of 20 meters per second. What is the x-component of this velocity

Answer 1

Answer:

The horizontal component of the ball =Vcos60

0

--(1) and

the vertical component= Vsin60

0

Let the mass of the canon before fragmenting be M

From law of conservation of momentum we get,

Momentum of vertical component before explosion=Momentum of vertical component after explosion

Now at the highest point of flight vertical component will be zero due the action of gravity.

0=

3

M

(100)+

3

M

(V)

v=−100

where v is the velocity of the fragment falling downwards

Momentum of horizontal component before explosion=Momentum of horizontal component after explosion.

Velocity of horizontal component=

2

200

=100m/s from (1)

M×100=

3

M

×V

H

V

H

=300m/s