Two hockey players skating on essentially frictionless ice collide head-on. madeleine, of mass 65.0 kg, is moving at 6.00 m/s to the east just before the collision and at 3.00 m/s to the west just after the collision. buffy, of mass 55.0 kg, is moving at 3.50 m/s to the east just after the collision. find buffy's velocity (magnitude and direction) just before the collision.

Explanation:

It is given that,

Mass of Madeleine,

Initial speed of Madeleine, (due east)

Final speed of Madeleine, (due west)

Mass of Buffy,

Final speed of Buffy, (due east)

Let is the Buffy's velocity just before the collision. Using the conservation of linear momentum as :

So, the initial speed of the Buffy just before the collision is 7.13 m/s and it is moving due west. Hence, this is the required solution.