A measure of inelasticity in a head-on collis
n4 gppw3 en+45bm1hk3m h;aqu3 tuiz4ion of two objects is the coefficient of restitution,
pe3gmk+uih5 4bam qtznw1p 3 ;n4uh43 e, defined as$e=\frac{\nu_\mathrm{A}^{\prime}-\nu_\mathrm{B}^{\prime}}{\nu_\mathrm{B}-\nu_\mathrm{A}},$
where $\nu_\mathrm{A}^{\prime}-\nu_\mathrm{B}^{\prime}$ is the relative velocity of the two objects after the collision and $\nu_\mathrm{B}-\nu_\mathrm{A}$ is their relative velocity before it.
(a) Show that e=1 for a perfectly elastic collision, and e=0 for a completely inelastic collision.
(b) A simple method for measuring the coefficient of restitution for an object colliding with a very hard surface like steel is to drop the object onto a heavy steel plate, as shown in Fig. 7–36. Determine a formula for e in terms of the original height h and the maximum height h’ reached after one collision.