STICKELERS

Imagine two miniature boxcars on a frictionless track. One car weighs 10 pounds and is moving east at 4 mph. The other weighs 6 pounds and is moving west at 12 mph. Disregarding friction, heat, compression and anything else that could get in the way of making this anything but a fun puzzle, what happens when the two cars meet and couple? HINT: Momentum is defined as a body’s mass times its velocity, which is expressed as p = mv. The conservation of momentum must always be maintained.