A 90 kg man is standing still on frictionless ice. His friend tosses him a 10 kg ball, which has a horizontal velocity of 20 m/s. After catching the ball, what is the man's velocity?

Answer 1

2 #m/s#

Using Law of Conservation of momentum. Initial momentum is equal to final momentum Momentum = #M_(man). v_(man)+m_(ball).v_(ball)#

Initial momentum = #90 times 0+ 10 times 20#

After the man catches the ball both ball and man move with the same velocity. Therefore Final Momentum = #(M_(man)+m_(ball)). v_(fi nal)# Equating the two

#200= 100 times v_(fi nal)#

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Answer 2

Elena Albarran

The man's velocity after catching the ball will be 2 m/s in the direction opposite to the ball's initial velocity.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.