Elastic collision of unequal masses
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010You roll a basketball and a bowling ball directly towards each other at the same speed. Predict what will happen to each after the two collide.
Solution:
Let’s assume that this is an “elastic collision of unequal masses” (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elastic_collision, which will help you visualize this). Let’s also assume that the weight of the basketball is 1 pound and the weight of the bowling ball is 2 pounds, and that the basket ball is traveling from east to west at a speed (v) of 9 miles per hour, and the bowling ball is traveling west to east at 9 miles per hour.
After the collision the bowling ball reverse direction and travel at 3 miles per hour, and the basketball will reverse direction and travel at 15 miles per hour.
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Tags: 5th Grade, Homework Answers, Science, Science Answer
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