Question

17. A figure skater skating across ice, who grabs another skater and brings him along the ice with her, is an example of what type of collision?

A. Mass collision
B. Inelastic collision
C. Parallel collision
D. Elastic collision

Answer 1

B. Inelastic collision

Step-by-step explanation:

There are two types of collision:

- Elastic collision: in an elastic collision, both the total momentum of the objects and the total kinetic energy of the objects involved are conserved before and after the collision

- Inelastic collision: in an inelastic collision, the total momentum of the objects is conserved before and after the collision, while the total kinetic energy is not - in fact, some of the kinetic energy is converted into other forms of energy (such as thermal energy) due to the presence of frictional forces

In particular, a perfectly inelastic collision is an inelastic collision in which the two objects stick together after the collision: in such a situation, the amount of kinetic energy "lost" (=converted into other forms) is maximum.

In the situation described in the problem, the two skaters stick together after the collision, so this is an example of perfectly inelastic collision.