A 2170 kg car moving east at 10.5 m/s collides with a 3230 kg car moving east. The cars stick together and move east as a unit after the collision at a velocity of 6.00 m/s.

1. What is the velocity of the 3230 kg car before the collision?

Answer in units of M/s.

In the attached file we have shown that we were given the mass of 1st car(m1)=2170kg,mass of 2nd car(m2)=3230kg, Initial velocity of 1st car(v1)=10.5m/s, Final velocity of both the cars combined (Vf)=6.00m/s. We assumed the initial velocity of the 2nd car to be "x". Now from the momentum of conservation we know that initial momentum of both the cars =Final momentum of both the cars.i.e m1u1+m2u2=(m1+m2)Vf. Further substituting values we calculated the value of x=2.9767. Thus, the velocity of the 3230kg car before the collision is 2.97m/s.