5/20/2023 0 Comments Impulse physics video tennisCan you think of some? Certain sports rely primarily on elastic collisions that conserve momentum, such as pool or billiards, while others use inelastic collisions to make the game more challenging. Many sports incorporate collisions and momentum as part of game play. This chart illustrates the range of bounciness for eight types of balls.Ĭopyright © Courtesy of The Exploratorium. The degree to which something is elastic or inelastic is dependent on the material of the object. If there were not, rubber balls would bounce forever. Rubber balls, pool balls (hitting each other), and ping-pong balls may be assumed extremely elastic, but there is still some bit of inelasticity in their collisions. In the real world, there are no purely elastic or inelastic collisions. Instead, all the energy goes into deforming the ball into a flat blob. It does not bounce at all and loses its kinetic energy. A dropped ball of clay demonstrates an extremely inelastic collision. Instead, the kinetic energy is transferred to another kind of energy such as heat or internal energy. In an inelastic collision, the total momentum of the system is conserved, but the total kinetic energy of the system is not conserved. At impact, the cue ball stops, but transfers all of its momentum to the other ball, resulting in the hit ball rolling with the initial speed of the cue ball. Watch a moving cue ball hit a resting pool ball. Another elastic collision example may be observed in a game of pool. An elastic collision example might involve a super-bouncy ball if you were to drop it, it would bounce all the way back up to the original height from which it was dropped. There are two types of collisions that relate to momentum: elastic and inelastic.Īn elastic collision follows the Law of Conservation of Momentum, which states "the total amount of momentum before a collision is equal to the total amount of momentum after a collision." In addition, the total kinetic energy of the system (all the objects that collide) is conserved during an elastic collision. Sometimes when moving objects collide into each other, momentum can be transferred from one object to another. For example, a heavier object going the same speed as a lighter object would have greater momentum. The amount of momentum an object has depends both on its mass and how fast it is going. Momentum can be thought of as 'mass in motion' and is given by the expression: Recognize that difference surfaces and materials promote different types of collisions.Understand that momentum depends on both mass and velocity.Learning how the human body and equipment interacts with the ball during impact or how the human body interacts with the inside of a car during a crash, helps engineers design better sports equipment and safer vehicles.Īfter this activity, students should be able to: Mechanical engineers consider momentum and collisions when designing vehicles. Some engineers dedicate their research to understanding collisions between balls and bats others study the effects of a golf ball colliding with the head of a golf club. Sports engineering is becoming a popular specialty field of study. This engineering curriculum aligns to Next Generation Science Standards ( NGSS). Students examine how different balls react when colliding with different surfaces, giving plenty of opportunity for them to see the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions, learn how to calculate momentum, and understand the principle of conservation of momentum.
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