A particle of mass M initially at rest splits into two. If one of the particles of mass M1 moves with velocity V1 , the second particle moves with velocity

Answer Details

When a particle of mass M splits into two, the total mass is conserved, and so the sum of the masses of the two resulting particles must be equal to M. If one of the particles of mass M1 moves with velocity V1, we can use the law of conservation of momentum to determine the velocity of the second particle. The law of conservation of momentum states that the total momentum of a system of particles remains constant if no external forces act on the system. In this case, the initial momentum of the system is zero, since the particle was initially at rest. After the particle splits, the momentum of the system is the sum of the momenta of the two resulting particles. Let's use the subscript 1 to represent the first particle of mass M1 and the subscript 2 to represent the second particle of mass M-M1. By conservation of momentum, we have: 0 = M1*V1 + (M - M1)*V2 Solving for V2, we get: V2 = -M1/M*(V1) Therefore, the second particle moves in the opposite direction with velocity -M1/M*(V1). This means that the two particles move in opposite directions, with the ratio of their velocities determined by the ratio of their masses. Option (D) in the table shows the correct answer, which is -M1/M*(V1).