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Deceit
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Homework Statement
This question is from a correspondence course I'm taking:
Two spacecraft from different nations have linked in space and are coasting with their engines off, heading directly toward Mars. The spacecraft s are thrust apart by large springs. Spacecraft 1, with a mass of 1.9 x 10^4 kg, then has a velocity of 3.5 x 10^3 km/h at 5.1 degrees to its original direction. Spacecraft 2, whose mass is 1.7 x 10^4 kg, has a velocity of 3.4 x 10^3 km/h at 5.9 degrees to its original direction. Determine the original speed of the two craft when they were linked together.
Now, my first thought was that I could find the original speed by finding the component of the final speed of one of the crafts that is parallel to the original direction of motion. Because the spring seems to be accelerating the crafts perpendicular to their motion, their components of speed parallel to the direction of motion should be unchanged, correct? But this seems too simplistic and doesn't really deal with the momentum of the system (which is the topic on hand)... and the numbers don't quite work out.
Also, p(f) of the system would not equal p(i) of the system, is that correct? The spring is applying a force, thus adding kinetic energy to the system. So would conservation of momentum not apply here?
Any help is appreciated!