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Homework answers / question archive / The lead female character in a movie is standing at the edge of an offshore oil rig
The lead female character in a movie is standing at the edge of an offshore oil rig. As she fires a gun, she is driven back over the edge and into the sea. Suppose the mass of a bullet is 0.010 kg and its velocity is 720 m/s. Her mass (including the gun) is 51 kg.
(a) what recoil velocity does she acquire in response to a single shot from a stationary position, assuming that no external force keeps her in place?
(b) Under the same assumption, what would be her recoil velocity if, instead, she shoots a blanks cartridge that ejects a mass of 5.0 x 10^-4 kg at a velocity of 720 m/s?
Using the conservation of momentum since there is no external force in the whole process.
The initial momentum is 0 since she is stationary.
a) m_b v_b + mv = 0
(0.01kg)(720m/s) + (51kg) v = 0
v = -7.2/51 = -0.14/s
Her velocity is 0.14m/s. The negative sign is due to the opposite direction of her velocity and the bullet's velocity.
b) Similar to above
m_cv_c + mv = 0
(5 * 10 ^-4 kg) (720 m/s) + (51kg) v = 0
v = - (5 * 10^-4kg) (720m/s) / 51kg = - 0.007m/s
Her speed is 0.007m/s
