Physics

To solve this, we'll use the principles of conservation of momentum and the information about the loss of kinetic energy during the collision.

 

Given:

Mass of object 1:

Initial velocity of object 1:

Mass of object 2: (unknown)

Initial velocity of object 2: (stationary)

Kinetic energy lost during the collision:

 

Calculate the initial kinetic energy of the system.

The initial kinetic energy is the sum of the kinetic energies of both objects before the collision. Since object 2 is stationary, only object 1 contributes to the initial kinetic energy:

 

Calculate the final kinetic energy.

The system loses of kinetic energy, so the final kinetic energy is:

 

Use conservation of momentum.

In an inelastic collision, momentum is conserved. The total momentum before the collision equals the total momentum after the collision.

 

The initial momentum of the system is:

 

Let be the final velocity of the co...