Can any real collision ever be truly perfectly elastic? Why or why not? (You should think about this in two ways: first consider what effects of the environment surrounding the collision might have on energy and momentum conservation; second, consider the objects themselves – how must an object react to a collision in order to be considered “perfect”?)
A real collision can never be perfectly elastic because
Total momentum of the collsions are conserved as we assume that there is no external force acting on the system, this is not possible in real world.
Total kinetic energy of the system before collision would be equal to total kinetic energy of the system after collision only if
I) ther is no loss of energy in the form of sound, light etc. hich is not possible
II) the colliding objects should be perfectly elastic, that is they should completely regain there shape and size, after collision, which also might not be possible.
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