In: Physics
A ball (Ball A) moving at 10.0 m/s overtakes and collides elastically with an identical ball (Ball B) moving at 4.00 m/s in the same direction.
1) Find the speed of Ball A after the collision.
2) Find the speed of Ball B after the collision.
Let me be the mass of the balls.
Initial velocity of ball A is
Initial velocity of ball B is
Let and be the final velocities of ball A and ball B respectively.
By the conservation of momentum, total momentum of the two ball system before the collision is equal to the total momentum of the system after the collision
Substituting and we get
In elastic collision, total kinetic energy of the system before the collision is equal to the total kinetic energy of the system after the collision
Substituting and we get
Using equation (1)
Since initial velocity of ball B is 4m/s, it cannot be the final velocity.
Using (1)