A1kg cart slams into a stationary 1kg cart at 2 m/s. the carts stick together and move forward at a speed of 1 m/sl. determine whether kinetic energy was conserved in the collision. use the law of conservation of energy to explain the collision

No, it is not conserved

Explanation:

Let's calculate the total kinetic energy before the collision and compare it with the total kinetic energy after the collision.

The total kinetic energy before the collision is:

where m1 = m2 = 1 kg are the masses of the two carts, v1=2 m/s is the speed of the first cart, and where v2=0 is the speed of the second cart, which is zero because it is stationary.

After the collision, the two carts stick together with same speed v=1 m/s; their total kinetic energy is

So, we see that the kinetic energy was not conserved, because the initial kinetic energy was 2 J while the final kinetic energy is 1 J. This means that this is an inelastic collision, in which only the total momentum is conserved. This loss of kinetic energy does not violate the law of conservation of energy: in fact, the energy lost has simply been converted into another form of energy, such as heat, during the collision.

the temperature in kelvin of 2.0 dm3 of an ideal gas is doubled and its pressure is increased by a factor of four. what is the final volume of the gas