Sticky Collisions

Perfectly inelastic

An interactive lesson with 6 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Sticky collisions: $v = \frac{m_1v_1 + m_2v_2}{m_1 + m_2}$.
• Momentum is always conserved in a collision. Kinetic energy is lost in inelastic ones.
• Watch the signs for objects moving in opposite directions.

Steps

1. Stick together
2. Sticky carts
3. Perfectly inelastic collisions
4. Energy lost
5. Head-on
6. Ballistic pendulum