Q. 16 A girl riding a bicycle along a straight road with a speed of 5 m/s throws a stone of mass 0.5 kg which has a speed of 15 m/s with respect to the ground along her direction of motion. The mass of the girl and bicycle is 50 kg. Does the speed of the bicycle change after the stone is thrown? What is the change in speed, if so?

Hint: Use law of conservation of linear momentum
Step 1: Apply linear momentum conservation to calculate the speed of the bicycle after the stone is thrown.
 
Given, total mass of girl, bicycle and stone m1 = (50 + 0.5) kg = 50.5 kg.
Velocity of bicycle, v1 = 5 m/s, Mass of stone m2 = 0.5 kg
Velocity of stone v2 = 15 m/s, Mass of girl and bicycle m = 50 kg
Yes, the speed of the bicycle changes after the stone is thrown.
Let after throwing the stone the speed of the bicycle be v m/s.
According to law of conservation of linear momentum,
 
m1u1 = m2u2 + mv50.5×5 = 0.5×15+50×v252.57.5= 50vor   v=245.050       v = 4.9m/s Change in speed = 54.9= 0.1m/s