Inelastic collisions Info

Go to Activity

Description

Solid materials have a wide range of values for physical properties like electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, hardness, etc. Often, properties that are easily macroscopically observable arise from the nature of the bonds between the atoms making up the materials. In this exercise, bouncing balls composed of atoms held together by harmonic springs are used to show transfer of energy into the internal degrees of freedom (i.e. heat) during an elastic collision.