Question 2: Now you will try colliding a loonie and a toonie. a) First, explain

Question

Question 2: Now you will try colliding a loonie and a toonie.

a) First, explain how you can find out whether the toonie is heavier than the loonie, or the opposite, or if they have (almost) equal masses, by doing a collision experiment similar to the one you just did. Specifically, describe what you expect for the outcome if the masses are (almost) equal, or if one is noticeably heavier than the other.

b) Perform the experiment and describe what you observe. What conclusion do you draw about the masses of the loonie and the toonie? What if you collide a loonie with a quarter?

Explanation / Answer

a)

Your task is to find out, by doing an experiment: As a first step, study a collision between two, Toonie and Loonie. One of them (say Loonie) will be at rest initially, and the other one (Toonie) will hit it with speed v1.

Let m1, m2 be the masses of Toonie and Loonie respectively.

When both the masses are equal, their velocity will be exchanged. (i.e. in this case, Toonie will come to rest and Loonie will start moving with velocity v1.)

When one mass is noticeably heavier than the other, then the heavier mass will keep moving with the same velocity after the collision while the lighter mass will start moving with twice the velocity of the heavier mass.

b)

If velocities are exchanged, they have the same mass.

If Loonie starts moving with twice the initial velocity of Toonie, then m1>>m2.

Conversely, m2>>m1.

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