Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A shell at rest bursts into two pieces of and . The piece flies off at .
In a collision with no outside force, momentum is conserved: . In an elastic collision kinetic energy is conserved too. Head-on and elastic, with the target at rest: , .
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Plan. Momentum for the velocity; then the energies.
Step 1. (a) , so : the opposite way.
Step 2. (b) .
Answer: (a) , opposite to the light piece. (b) , from the chemical energy of the explosive.
Check. The momenta are equal and opposite ( each). The light piece takes twice the energy: with the same .
Watch out. Momentum is conserved in an explosion, but kinetic energy is not: it grows from zero.
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