Physics

To find the total momentum before the collision, we need to use the principle of conservation of momentum. However, in this case, since we're specifically looking for the momentum before the collision, we will focus on the momentum of both balls prior to the impact.

 

Given:

Mass of Ball 1 () = 0.25 kg

Final velocity of Ball 1 () = 18 m/s

Mass of Ball 2 () = 1.25 kg

Final velocity of Ball 2 () = -9 m/s

 

Write the equation for total momentum before the collision.

Momentum is given by the formula:

 

Since we don't have the initial velocities of the two balls, we'll denote the initial velocities of Ball 1 and Ball 2 as and , respectively.

 

The total momentum before the collision is:

 

Use the principle of conservation of momentum.

The total momentum after the collision is given by: