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Collision Question

Hi,

If ball 2 has a greater mass than ball 1, which collides into it and bounces off in the opposite direction, is it possible that ball 2 could remain at rest?

That is, is it possible that ball 1 could have retained all of its momentum and not passed it to ball 2? Why?

Thanks.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by velocitous
...


Theoretically yes. Think about when you drop a ball which bounces off the surface of Earth in a perfectly elastic collision with no air resistance.

The Earth is essentially just a very large mass and the ball will simply just bounce straight back up to the same height at which it was dropped. This is something we know from experience.

Basically, if the mass of the stationary object is significantly large enough compared to the "moving" ball, the momentum imparted to the larger mass will be negligible - in a purely elastic collision. Hence, the moving object will retain nearly all of its momentum.

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