Work, Power and Energy

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Question : 16
Total: 30
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 possibleresult after collision?
Solution:  
m is the mass of each ball bearing.
Total kinetic energy of the system before collisions
E=
1
2
m
v2
+0
=
1
2
m
v2

Kinetic energy of the system after collision
Case I : E=
1
2
(2m)
×(
v
2
)
2
=
1
4
m
v2

Case II : E2=
1
2
m
v2

Case III : E3=
1
2
(3m)
(
v
3
)
2
=
1
6
m
v2

We observe that kinetic energy is conserved before collision as well as after collision only in Case II. Therefore Case II is the only possibility.
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