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A person playing croquet on a grass lawn hits his yellow ball into his opponent’s red ball. The friction coefficient between the ball and the lawn is approximately 0.25. Which of the following is true about the collision between the two balls?
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Correct Answer: D. The collision is inelastic, and the total kinetic energy in the system will be lower after the collision.
An elastic collision is one in which all of the kinetic energy is conserved in the collision. However, elastic collisions do not exist at large scale in the real world, and in this case the collision is not elastic. Instead, the collision is inelastic, meaning some kinetic energy is lost from the impact, usually as heat, sound, or vibration. The kinetic energy is lost as a result of the contact between the two balls, not because of the friction interaction between the grass and the ball, so answer B is not correct.
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