wumple said:If one observer in an inertial reference measures a collision to be elastic, then all observers in an inertial reference frame will measure the collision to be elastic - can this be explained with the conservation of energy? What exactly does the conservation of energy principle say in regards to different inertial reference frames?
wumple said:If one observer in an inertial reference measures a collision to be elastic, then all observers in an inertial reference frame will measure the collision to be elastic - can this be explained with the conservation of energy? What exactly does the conservation of energy principle say in regards to different inertial reference frames?
The conservation of energy is a fundamental law in physics that states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can only be transformed from one form to another.
In elastic collisions, the total kinetic energy of the system remains constant. This means that the energy before the collision is equal to the energy after the collision, demonstrating the principle of conservation of energy.
The conservation of energy predicts the invariance of elastic collisions because it states that the total energy of a system must remain constant. Therefore, in an elastic collision where no energy is lost, the total energy before and after the collision must be the same.
In elastic collisions, both momentum and kinetic energy are conserved. This means that the total momentum before the collision is equal to the total momentum after the collision, and the total kinetic energy before the collision is equal to the total kinetic energy after the collision.
No, not all collisions in real life are perfectly elastic and follow the conservation of energy. In real life, there is always some energy lost due to factors like friction and air resistance. However, in elastic collisions, the energy loss is negligible and the conservation of energy still applies.