PHYS 1200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Tennis Ball, Inelastic Collision, Elastic Collision
Physics Notes #8 – 9/11/15
The law of conservation of momentum can be seen through the example of Newton’s
Cradle - The collision redistributes the momentum among the objects
oAlso seen with the childhood toy
Can see this in the example of the air track cars and the magnet, in that when connected
together, they move slower due to the fact the momentum is spread out amongst more
particles (a larger mass)
Energy in collisions:
As a result of the collision, the KE of the objects may decrease because the objects get
damaged, some heat is produced as well as sound
oKE = ½ m v2
K is a scalar quantity, due to the fact that it does not matter what direction the
object is moving (and v is squared)
Types of collisions:
( ) ( )
A B A B
b e f o r e c o l l i s i o n a f
p + p = p + p
m v + m v = m
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Document Summary
The law of conservation of momentum can be seen through the example of newton"s. Cradle - the collision redistributes the momentum among the objects. Physics notes #8 9/11/15: also seen with the childhood toy. Can see this in the example of the air track cars and the magnet, in that when connected together, they move slower due to the fact the momentum is spread out amongst more particles (a larger mass) As a result of the collision, the ke of the objects may decrease because the objects get damaged, some heat is produced as well as sound: ke = m v2. K is a scalar quantity, due to the fact that it does not matter what direction the object is moving (and v is squared) Elastic collision: the two objects bounce off each other with no loss of energy. Inelastic collision: the two objects bounce off each other but with some loss of energy.