A ball with a mass of #2 kg # and velocity of #1 m/s# collides with a second ball with a mass of #7 kg# and velocity of #- 4 m/s#. If #40%# of the kinetic energy is lost, what are the final velocities of the balls?
1 Answer
Linear momentum, the product of mass and velocity, is always conserved, so, when two objects collide,
where
Then, from the data available in the question,
Now, it is given that, during the collision,
Then, construct another equation:
Now, we have a system of equations:
From Equation 1, it can be seen that
Using the quadratic equation,
This value is undefined, as we're taking the square root of
Hence, the situation described in the question is impossible.