Question

7. About kinetic energy loss during collision processes, answer the following questions:

(a) If the collision is perfectly inelastic, is all the kinetic energy lost? (Question 19 of chapter 9.) (3 points)

(b) For 1D inelastic collisions (not necessarily perfectly inelastic), apply Eq. (⋆) to find the maxi- mal kinetic energy loss during the collision process. Hint: Use the fact that the velocity must be real.

(c) Does the maximal kinetic energy loss correspond to perfectly inelastic collisions?

Answer 1