3.4✶✶ Two hobos, each of mass m₁, are standing at one end of a stationary railroad flatcar with frictionless wheels and mass mfc. Either hobo can run to the other end of the flatcar and jump off with the same speed u (relative to the car). (a) Use conservation of momentum to find the speed of the recoiling car if the two men run and jump simultaneously. (b) What is it if the second man starts running only after the first has already jumped? Which procedure gives the greater speed to the car? [Hint: The speed u is the speed of either hobo, relative to the car just after he has jumped; it has the same value for either man and is the same in parts (a) and (b).]
3.4✶✶ Two hobos, each of mass m₁, are standing at one end of a stationary railroad flatcar with frictionless wheels and mass mfc. Either hobo can run to the other end of the flatcar and jump off with the same speed u (relative to the car). (a) Use conservation of momentum to find the speed of the recoiling car if the two men run and jump simultaneously. (b) What is it if the second man starts running only after the first has already jumped? Which procedure gives the greater speed to the car? [Hint: The speed u is the speed of either hobo, relative to the car just after he has jumped; it has the same value for either man and is the same in parts (a) and (b).]