Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
Two identical ball bearings in contact with each other and resting on a frictionless table are hit head-on by another ball bearing of the same mass moving initially with a speed V. If the collision is elastic, which of the following figure is a possible result after collision?

Advertisements
Solution 1
Let m be the mass of each ball bearing. Before collision, total K.E. of the system
=1/2mv2 + 0 =1/2 mv2
After collision, K.E. of the system is
Case I, E1 = 1/2 (2m) (v/2)2 = 1/4 mv2
Case II, E2 = 1/2 mv2
Case III, E3 = 1/2(3m) (v/3)2 = 1/6mv2
Thus, case II is the only possibility since K.E. is conserved in this case.
Solution 2
It can be observed that the total momentum before and after collision in each case is constant.
For an elastic collision, the total kinetic energy of a system remains conserved before and after collision.
For mass of each ball bearing m, we can write:
Total kinetic energy of the system before collision:
= (1/2)mV2 + (1/2)(2m) × 02
= (1/2)mV2
Case (i)
Total kinetic energy of the system after collision:
= (1/2) m × 0 + (1/2) (2m) (V/2)2
= (1/4)mV2
Hence, the kinetic energy of the system is not conserved in case (i).
Case (ii)
Total kinetic energy of the system after collision:
= (1/2)(2m) × 0 + (1/2)mV2
= (1/2) mV2
Hence, the kinetic energy of the system is conserved in case (ii).
Case (iii)
Total kinetic energy of the system after collision:
= (1/2)(3m)(V/3)2
= (1/6)mV2
Hence, the kinetic energy of the system is not conserved in case (iii).
Hence, Case II is the only possibility.
RELATED QUESTIONS
State if the following statement is true or false. Give a reason for your answer.
Total energy of a system is always conserved, no matter what internal and external forces on the body are present.
Answer carefully, with reason:
In an inelastic collision of two billiard balls, is the total kinetic energy conserved during the short time of collision of the balls (i.e., when they are in contact)?
The bob A of a pendulum released from 30° to the vertical hits another bob B of the same mass at rest on a table, as shown in the figure. How high does the bob A rise after the collision? Neglect the size of the bobs and assume the collision to be elastic.

Answer the following question.
A bullet of mass m1 travelling with a velocity u strikes a stationary wooden block of mass m2 and gets embedded into it. Determine the expression for loss in the kinetic energy of the system. Is this violating the principle of conservation of energy? If not, how can you account for this loss?
Define the following:
Coefficient of restitution
What is inelastic collision? In which way it is different from an elastic collision. Mention a few examples in day-to-day life for inelastic collision.
A ball moving with velocity 5 m/s collides head on with another stationary ball of double mass. If the coefficient of restitution is 0.8, then their velocities (in m/s) after collision will be ____________.
A bomb of mass 9 kg explodes into two pieces of mass 3 kg and 6 kg. The velocity of mass 3 kg is 16 m/s, The kinetic energy of mass 6 kg is ____________.
In inelastic collision, ____________.
A mass M moving with velocity 'v' along x-axis collides and sticks to another mass 2M which is moving along Y-axis with velocity 3v. After collision, the velocity of the combination is ______.
A block of mass 'm' moving along a straight line with constant velocity `3vec"v"` collides with another block of same mass at rest. They stick together and move with common velocity. The common velocity is ______.
During inelastic collision between two bodies, which of the following quantities always remain conserved?
A ball of mass m, moving with a speed 2v0, collides inelastically (e > 0) with an identical ball at rest. Show that for a general collision, the angle between the two velocities of scattered balls is less than 90°.
A rod of mass M and length L is lying on a horizontal frictionless surface. A particle of mass 'm' travelling along the surface hits at one end of the rod with velocity 'u' in a direction perpendicular to the rod. The collision is completely elastic. After collision, particle comes to rest. The ratio of masses `(m/M)` is `1/x`. The value of 'x' will be ______.
A ball of mass 10 kg moving with a velocity of 10`sqrt3` ms–1 along the X-axis, hits another ball of mass 20 kg which is at rest. After collision, the first ball comes to rest and the second one disintegrates into two equal pieces. One of the pieces starts moving along Y-axis at a speed of 10 m/s. The second piece starts moving at a speed of 20 m/s at an angle θ (degree) with respect to the X-axis.
The configuration of pieces after the collision is shown in the figure.
The value of θ to the nearest integer is ______.

A ball falls from a height of 1 m on a ground and it loses half its kinetic energy when it hits the ground. What would be the total distance covered by the ball after sufficiently long time?
A ball is thrown upwards from the foot of a tower. The ball crosses the top of tower twice after an interval of 4 seconds and the ball reaches ground after 8 seconds, then the height of tower is ______ m. (g = 10 m/s2)
An insect moves with a constant velocity v from one corner of a room to other corner which is opposite of the first corner along the largest diagonal of room. If the insect can not fly and dimensions of room is a × a × a, then the minimum time in which the insect can move is `"a"/"v"`. times the square root of a number n, then n is equal to ______.
Which of the following real-life scenarios is the best example of a collision as defined in the source?
