The recoil of a cannon is probably familiar to anyone who has watched pirate movies. This is a classic problem in momentum conservation. Consider a wheeled, 500 kg cannon firing a 2 kg cannonball horizontally from a ship. The ball leaves the cannon traveling at 200 m/s. At what speed does the cannon recoil as a result?

0.8 m/s

Explanation:

From the question,

MV = mv Equation 1

Where M = mass of the cannon, m = mass of the cannonball, V = velocity of the cannon, v = velocity of the cannon ball.

make V the subject of the equation

V = mv/M Equation 2

Given: m = 2 kg, M = 500 kg, v = 200 m/s

Substitute these value into equation 2

V = (2×200)/500

V = 400/500

V = 0.8 m/s