
Elastic and Inelastic Coision 143
These equations can be represented as vectors, as shown in the preceding figure on
the left. The vectors can be rearranged to combine the change in momentum and impulse
for objects 1 and 2, respectively, with the law of action and reaction, to get the vector on the
right.
Elastic and Inelastic Collision
It’s important to note that problems involving collision cannot always be solved using the
law of conservation of momentum alone. In the real world, we must consider the dissipation
of kinetic energy and other factors. We’ll learn more about kinetic energy in the next chapter.
However, we can easily apply the law ...