Elastic and Inelastic Collisions

Practice Questions

High School Physics › Elastic and Inelastic Collisions

Questions
7
1

You are a witness in a court case involving a car accident. The accident involved car A of mass which crashed into stationary car B of mass . The driver of car A applied his brakes before he crashed into car B. After the collision, car A slid while car B slid 3. The coefficient of kinetic friction between the locked wheels and the road was measured to be . What was the velocity of car A before hitting the brakes?

2

A car with mass and initial velocity strikes a car of mass , which is at rest. If the two cars stick together after the collision, what is the final velocity?

3

A car traveling at collides with another car that is at rest. The two bumpers lock and the cars move forward together. What is their final velocity?

4

Hockey puck A () travels with a velocity of to the right when it collides with hockey puck B (), which was originally at rest. After the collision, puck A is stationary. Assume no external forces are in play and that the momentum of the pucks are conserved. What is the final velocity of puck B after the collision?

5

A sports car collides into the rear end of SUV stopped at a red light. The bumper lock, the brakes lock and the two cars skid forward before coming to a stop. The police officer, knowing the coefficient of kinetic friction between the tires and the road is about . He calculates the speed of the sports car at impact. What was that speed?

6

Two bumper cars at an amusement park collide elastically as one approaches the other directly from the rear. The car in front (CarA) has a mass of and the car behind it (CarB) has a mass of . The car in front was traveling at while the car behind hit him with a velocity of . What are their final velocities after the collision?

7

Which of these would NOT be an example of an inelastic collision?

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