A cannon ball of mass 2 kg is fired at a target 500 m away. The 400 kg cannon recoils with a velocity of 2 ms−1. Assuming cannon ball moves with constant velocity, when will it hit the target?
1.25 s
Let mass of cannon be m1 = 400 kg
Let mass of cannon ball be m2 = 2 kg
Let initial velocities of the cannon and cannon ball be u1 and u2 respectively.
Let final velocity of cannon and cannon ball be v1 and v2 respectively.
From the law of conservation of momentum,
total momentum before firing = total momentum after firing.
∴ m1u1+m2u2=m1v1+m2v2
As the cannon and cannon ball is at rest initially, the initial velocity will be zero, i.e
0=m1v1+m2v2
Substituting the values:
0=400×(−2)+2×v
⇒v=400×22= 400 ms−1
Hence, the velocity of the cannonball will be 400 ms−1
Since we know,
time=displacementvelocity
Thus, time taken to hit the target= 500400 = 1.25 s