gicu Heap. At first glance ears that energy is not conserved in this collision T

Question

gicu Heap. At first glance ears that energy is not conserved in this collision T, like Dennis's mother in Richard Feynman's story at the beginning of the chapter, we find the energy "hid- den” in many different forms. The initial kinetic energy is transformed into sound energy, thermal energy, and deformation energy. Where does the initial momentum of the system hide? 2. Energy is always conserved for an isolated system. However this chapter begins by stating that the energy of motion is only sometimes invariant, even for an isolated system. How can total energy be conserved while energy of motion is not? You have been asked to analyze a collision at a traffic inter- section. Will you be better off to begin your analysis using conservation of momentum or conservation of kinetic energy? Why?

Explanation / Answer

At any collision it is always easy to analyze the situation using Conservation of Momentum because velocities of bodies are easier to measure. To use conservation of energy apart from knowing the kinetic energies of bodies you should also consider any energy losses in sound, heat and light etc which are difficult to estimate. SO always go with conservation of Momentum in collisions.

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