An explosion in the space breaks an object (originally in repose) in two fragments. The first fragment of mass has two times the kinetic energy of the fragment of mass . and are related by:
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Let the velocity of m 1 be v 1 and the velocity of m 2 be v 2 . So what we have here is, 2 1 m 1 v 1 2 = 2 × 2 1 m 2 v 2 2 ⇒ m 1 v 1 2 = 2 m 2 v 2 2 Also from since no external forces are acting on our system other than the internal force which broke the object (explosion) therefore we can conserve the momentum of the object. Since object is initially at rest and we are assuming that final masses went in opposite directions then we shall have, 0 = m 1 v 1 − m 2 v 2 ⇒ m 1 v 1 = m 2 v 2 Solve both equations to get m 2 = 2 m 1