ILLUSTRATION: A particle (a mud pallet, say)of mass m strikes a smooth stationary wedge of mass M
with a velocity v0, at an angle θ with horizontal. If the collision is perfectly inelastic, find the velocity of
the wedge just after the collision.
Let the system (M + m) moves as a single mass with a velocity v.
Conserving the momentum of the system in horizontal, we have mv0cos θ = (M + m)v
This gives v = mv0cos θM + m