In midair an m = 145 kg bomb explodes into two pieces of m1 = 115 kg and another, respectively. before the explosion, the bomb was moving at 24.0 m/s to the east. after the explosion, the velocity of the m1 = 115 kg piece is 65.0 m/s to the east. find the velocity (in m/s) (with a proper sign) of the other piece after the explosion

, the minus meaning west.

Explanation:

We know that linear momentum must be conserved, so it will be the same before () and after () the explosion. We will take the east direction as positive.

Before the explosion we have .

After the explosion we have pieces 1 and 2, so .

These equations must be vectorial but since we look at the instants before and after the explosions and the bomb fragments in only 2 pieces the problem can be simplified in one dimension with direction east-west.

Since we know momentum must be conserved we have:

Which means (since we want and ):

So for our values we have:

there are no contact forces mentioned on the list of choices that you've provided.