All Flashcards
What is the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions?
Elastic Collision: Kinetic energy is conserved; objects bounce off each other. | Inelastic Collision: Kinetic energy is not conserved; some energy is converted to other forms (e.g., heat, sound); objects may stick together.
What is the difference between a system with zero net external force and a system with nonzero net external force?
Zero Net External Force: Total momentum of the system remains constant; momentum is conserved within the system. | Nonzero Net External Force: Momentum can be transferred between the system and its surroundings; momentum is not conserved within the system alone.
Compare and contrast momentum and kinetic energy.
Momentum: A vector quantity; conserved in a closed system regardless of elasticity of collision. | Kinetic Energy: A scalar quantity; conserved only in elastic collisions.
What is the difference between impulse and momentum?
Impulse: The change in momentum of an object. It is a force acting over a period of time. | Momentum: The mass of an object multiplied by its velocity. It is a measure of how difficult it is to stop a moving object.
Compare 1D and 2D collisions regarding momentum analysis.
1D Collisions: Momentum conservation applied along a single axis; simpler algebraic solutions. | 2D Collisions: Momentum conservation applied along two axes (x and y); requires vector decomposition and potentially more complex algebraic solutions.
What is the effect of a net external force acting on a system?
The total momentum of the system changes; momentum is transferred between the system and its surroundings.
What happens when two objects collide in a closed system?
Momentum is transferred between the objects such that the total momentum of the system remains constant.
What is the effect of an impulse on an object?
The object's momentum changes by an amount equal to the impulse:
What is the effect of an explosion within a closed system?
The total momentum of the system remains zero (if it was initially at rest), with the individual components moving in opposite directions to conserve momentum.
What happens if the kinetic energy is conserved during a collision?
The collision is classified as elastic.
What is the effect of an external force acting on a system?
The change in momentum of the system will equal the impulse of that force.
What happens when the net external force on a system is zero?
The total momentum of that system stays constant.
What is the effect of impulse on momentum?
Impulse causes a change in momentum.