Chapter 16 of 2363 min read

Collisions: elastic and inelastic

Why this is asked: Momentum is conserved in every collision, elastic or not — only kinetic energy needs the collision to be elastic — and for two equal masses in a 1D elastic collision, the velocities simply swap.

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Test yourself

•Two bodies A and B of the same mass undergo a completely inelastic one-dimensional collision. Body A moves with velocity $v_{1}$ while body B is at rest before the collision. The velocity of the system after the collision is $v_{2}$ . The ratio $v_{1} : v_{2}$ is:

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