Acrobat Bart at the circus drops vertically onto the end of a see-saw, with his partner Art equidistant from the fulcrum at the other end. Art is propelled straight upward a distance twice that of Bart's dropping distance. Neglecting inefficiencies we see
A)the masses of Art and Bart are equal.
B)Art has half the mass of Bart.
C)need more information

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Given the conservation of energy and the setup described, when Bart drops onto the see-saw, the energy transferred to Art propels him upward. For Art to reach twice the height of Bart's drop, he must have half the potential energy at the peak of his ascent compared to Bart's initial potential energy, assuming no energy losses. Since potential energy is directly proportional to mass (PE = mgh), for the energy to be halved while the height is doubled, Art's mass must be half that of Bart's.

Acrobat Bart at the Circus Drops Vertically onto the End