Colliding steel rods, unlike colliding steel balls, can lose kinetic energy during collisions. The kinetic energy lost appears as stress (vibrational) energy in the rods: We describe apparatus suitable for lecture demonstrations and laboratory investigations of such collisions. We explain how colliding rods interact. The reasons why steel balls collide elastically remain mysterious.
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© 1994 American Association of Physics Teachers.
1994
American Association of Physics Teachers
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