Get premium membership and access revision papers with marking schemes, video lessons and live classes.

Processing. Please wait.

A bullet of mass 0.005 kg is fired from a gun of mass 0.5 kg. If the muzzle velocity of the bullet is 350 m/s, determine the recoil velocity of the gun.

Answer Text:
Initial momentum of the bullet and the gun is zero since they are at rest.
Momentum of the bullet after firing =
#(0.005times350) #= 1.75 kgm/s
But momentum before firing = momentum after firing hence
0 = 1.75 + 0.5 v where ‘v’ = recoil velocity
0.5 v = -1.75
v =#(-1.75)/(0.5)# = - 3.5 m/s
(recoil velocity)