Question

Object A with a mass of 500 kilograms hits stationary object B with a mass of

920 kilograms. If the collision is elastic, what happens after the collision?

Answer 1

Both objects move away from the site of the collision, with speeds
and in directions such that the total kinetic energy and vector-momentum
of both of them are equal to the total kinetic energy and vector-momentum
that Object-A had before the collision.

Answer 2

Both objects will move

Step-by-step explanation:

The collision is elastic, which means that both the total momentum and the total kinetic energy will be conserved after the collision. Therefore, we will have:

`m_A u_A = m_A v_A + m_B v_B\\(1)/(2)m_A u_A^2 = (1)/(2)m_A v_A^2 + (1)/(2)m_B v_B^2`

where the first equation represents the conservation of the total momentum, while the second equation represents the conservation of the kinetic energy, and

`u_A` is the velocity of object A before the collision

`v_A` is the velocity of object A after the collision

`v_B` is the velocity of object B after the collision

`m_A = 500 kg, m_B=920 kg` are the masses of the two objects.