A golf ball traveling 3 m/s to the right collides in a head-on collision with a stationary bowling ball in a friction-free environment. If the collision is almost perfectly elastic, the speed of the golf ball immediately after the collision is
A) slightly greater than 3 m/s.
B) much less than 3 m/s.
C) equal to 3 m/s.
D) slightly less than 3 m/s.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In an almost perfectly elastic collision, momentum is conserved and kinetic energy is almost fully conserved. The golf ball will bounce back with a speed slightly less than its original speed due to a very small amount of energy lost in the collision. The much larger mass of the bowling ball means it will move very little, absorbing only a tiny amount of the golf ball's kinetic energy.

A Golf Ball Traveling 3 M/s to the Right Collides