An 1640 kg car stopped at a traffic light is struck from the rear by a 820 kg car. The two cars become entangled, moving along the same path as that of the originally moving car. If the smaller car were moving at 25.6 m/s before the collision, what is the velocity of the entangled cars after the collision?
(a) What is the loss of kinetic energy (Ki - Kf) in the situation described in the example?
(b) What if the 820 kg car actually moves backwards with a speed of 1.9 m/s right after the collision instead of having a perfectly inelastic collision. What is the velocity of the heavier car immediately after the collision? Use the same convention for positive direction as defined in the example.
(c) What is the loss of kinetic energy in this case?