Task 2.4 (MERIT) describe the principle of conservation of

momentum and apply to contextual problems

A)

Provide a written description of the conservation of momentum and describe at least one

example.

B)

Two railway trucks are travelling in opposite directions on the same track. The first truck

has a mass of 12 tonnes, and is moving north at 8 km/h.

The second truck has a mass of 18 tonnes and is moving south at 3 km/h. The trucks

collide and lock together after impact. Determine the common velocity after the impact

and its direction./nC)

A 300 kg spacecraft is equipped with a retrorocket that gives a constant upward thrust, T,

thus providing an impulse of 2kN.

The spacecraft is preparing to land on planet Mars where the acceleration due to gravity

is 3.7 ms².

The retrorocket is required to reduce the descent speed from 60 ms¹ to 1 ms¹. Determine

how long the rocket must operate for if this reduction is to be achieved.