Each croquet ball in a set has a mass of 0.53 kg. the green ball, traveling at 14.4 m/s, strikes the blue ball, which is at rest. assuming that the balls slide on a frictionless surface and all collisions are head-on, find the final speed of the blue ball in each of the following situations: a) the green ball stops moving after it strikes the blue ball. answer in units of m/s. b) the green ball continues moving after the collision at 2.4 m/s in the same direction. answer in units of m/s. c) the green ball continues moving after the collision at 0.9 m/s in the same direction. answer in units of m/s.

a) 14.4 m/s

The problem can be solved by using the law of conservation of total momentum; in  fact, the total initial momentum must be equal to the final total momentum:

So we have:

(1)

where

is the mass of each ball

is the initial velocity of the green ball

is the initial velocity of the blue ball

is the final velocity of the green ball

is the final velocity of the blue ball

Simplifying the mass in the equation and solving for , we find

b) 12.0 m/s

This time, the green ball continues moving after the collision at

So the equation (1) becomes

And solving for we find

c) 13.5 m/s

This time, the green ball continues moving after the collision at

So the equation (1) becomes

And solving for we find

it takes about 30 days for it to break down