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Collision of a Happy Ball with an Unhappy Ball
- Source :
-
Physics Teacher . Jan 2022 60(1):22-24. - Publication Year :
- 2022
-
Abstract
- What happens when a perfectly elastic ball collides with a completely inelastic ball? It is shown that the outcome depends on the stiffness of each ball. A standard textbook problem in mechanics is to calculate the outcome of a head-on collision between two balls using conservation of momentum and kinetic energy. It is easily shown that the outcome depends on the relative mass of the balls and their initial speeds. In practice, there is always a net loss of kinetic energy during a collision, which can be expressed in terms of the coefficient of restitution (COR) for the collision. The COR is defined as the relative speed of the two balls after the collision divided by the relative speed before the collision. In a perfectly elastic collision the COR is unity. In a completely inelastic collision, the COR is zero.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0031-921X
- Volume :
- 60
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- ERIC
- Journal :
- Physics Teacher
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- EJ1331332
- Document Type :
- Journal Articles<br />Reports - Descriptive
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1119/10.0009101