Two ice skaters at rest one heavy and the other lightpush aw

Two ice skaters at rest, one heavy and the other light-push away from each other. The skater moves away from their point of contact the faster of the two. (a) heavy (b) light.

Solution

The system of the two skaters suffer no external force, hence the net momentum for the system needs to be conserved, that is, equal to zero.

Therefore, the lighter body will move away faster so as to have same and opposite momentum as the heavier one.

as in MV - mv = 0

for M > m, we must have v > V