Question

Why is the coefficient of restitution important?

Answer 1

The coefficient of restitution is important because it tells us whether a collision is elastic or inelastic

A collision is said to be elastic when the value of `e` is closer to `1`. Elastic also means that almost none of the initial kinetic energy was lost during the collision, and thus that the average kinetic energy of the remained the same even after the collision.

An Inelastic collision on the other side is when `e` tends to `0` meaning that, almost all the kinetic energy of the system was lost due to the collision