Research paragraph
Jean-Marc de Villiers
When Two Objects Collide
Two moving objects, both possessing momentum by the product of their mass and velocity, collide with one another. Within the system created by their collision, there is a total momentum that is equal to their combined mass and the sum of their velocity.
The game of pool provides an example of a collision in which one object, the white ball, is moving, while the other ball is at rest. Due to the solid and hard pool balls, and their nature to not to stick to one another, this can be an example of an almost perfectly elastic collision one in which momentum is conserved.
This brings about the Law of Conservation of Momentum, which states that the momentum of any closed system with no net external forces does not change.
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The total energy in a given system, such as that created by the two lumps of clay in a collision, is conserved; however, kinetic energy may be transformed, for instance, into heat energy and or sound energy as a result of collision. Whereas inelastic collisions involve soft, sticky objects, elastic collisions involve rigid, non-sticky objects.
Kinetic energy and momentum both involve components of velocity and mass: p (momentum) is equal to m v, and KE (kinetic energy) equals ½ m v 2 . Due to the elastic nature of pool-ball collisions, when the white ball strikes another ball at rest, it transfers its velocity to the other ball. Their masses are the same, and therefore the resulting momentum and kinetic energy of the object ball will be the same as that possessed by the cue ball prior to