Question

An air-track glider of mass 0.25 kg moving at 0.60 m/s collides with and sticks to a glider of mass 0.50 kg at rest. How much kinetic energy is converted into other forms of energy as a direct result of this collision?

Answer 1

0.03 Joules have been converted into other forms of energy as the direct result of the collision.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let's start studying the conservation of momentum for the system:

Now that we know the speed of the newly created object, we can calculate how the final kinetic energy differs from the initial one:

`K_i=(1)/(2) (0.25)\,(0.6)^2+(1)/(2) (0.5)\,(0)^2=0.045\,\,J\\ \\K_f=(1)/(2) (0.75)\,(0.2)^2=0.015\,\,J\\`

Then, when we subtract one from the other, we can estimate how much kinetic energy has been converted into other forms of energy in the collision:

0.045 J - 0.015 J = 0.03 J