Five coins on a table

Of five identical coins (they are circular), four are placed on vertices of a regular hexagon in above fashion. Left one moves with horizontal velocity 24 ms 1 24\text{ ms}^{-1} , to collide with coin on bottom edge along the line joining their centers.

Find the magnitude of velocity with which the coin on top-left edge leaves the hexagon (horizontal velocity, to be precise*).

Details and Assumptions \textbf{Details and Assumptions}

  • Consider all surfaces to be smooth.

  • Consider all collisions to be elastic.

  • Answer in SI Units.


The answer is 3.

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2 solutions

Tapas Mazumdar
Oct 15, 2016

Let the mass of each coin be m kg m \text{ kg} .

Since all collisions are elastic and no external force is applied to the system of coins, we can apply conservation of linear momentum one by one to each of the coins.

When the first coin strikes the second one, its momentum along the side of the hexagon is: m 24 cos 6 0 = 12 m kg m s 1 m \cdot 24 \cos 60^{\circ} = 12m \text{ kg m s}^{-1} .

When the second one imparts its momentum into the third one, its momentum along the side of the hexagon is: m 12 cos 6 0 = 6 m kg m s 1 m \cdot 12 \cos 60^{\circ} = 6m \text{ kg m s}^{-1} .

When third imparts its momentum to the fourth one, its momentum along the side of the hexagon is: m 6 cos 6 0 = 3 m kg m s 1 m \cdot 6 \cos 60^{\circ} = 3m \text{ kg m s}^{-1} .

When fourth imparts its momentum to the final one, its momentum in the horizontal direction is: m 3 cos 0 = 3 m kg m s 1 m \cdot 3 \cos 0^{\circ} = 3m \text{ kg m s}^{-1} .

Hence, velocity with which the final coin leaves the hexagon is: 3 m m = 3 m s 1 \dfrac{3m}{m} = \boxed{3 \text{ m s}^{-1}} .

@Sahil Silare, copying problems isn't actually appreciated...

Kushal Patankar - 4 years, 7 months ago

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Kushal, sorry about that. We didn't realize that this happened.

I've combined the problems, moved the solution over, and featured your problem instead.

Calvin Lin Staff - 4 years, 7 months ago

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Thanks Calvin

Kushal Patankar - 4 years, 7 months ago

Don't cry for that . The problem is removed.

Sahil Silare - 4 years, 5 months ago
Sahil Silare
Oct 13, 2016

W e h a v e , We\ have,

v b o t t o m l e f t c o i n = 24 m s 1 v_{bottom\ left\ coin}=24\ ms^{-1}

W e k n o w t h a t e x t e r i o r a n g l e o f r e g u l a r h e x a g o n i s π 3 , We\ know\ that\ exterior\ angle\ of\ regular\ hexagon\ is\ \frac{\pi }{3},

v t o p l e f t c o i n = v cos ( π 3 ) cos ( π 3 ) cos ( π 3 ) v_{top\ left\ coin}=v\cos \left(\frac{\pi }{3}\right)\cdot \cos \left(\frac{\pi }{3}\right)\cdot \cos \left(\frac{\pi }{3}\right)

v = 24 1 8 v=24\cdot \frac{1}{8}

v = 3 m s 1 v=3\ ms^{-1}

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