John wants to perform an experiment that demonstrates motion when two objects collide. He uses a cue stick to strike a white ball, which then collides with a red ball. The image below shows John's experimental setup.

Question

Both the white ball and the red ball have the same mass. John then records how far the red ball moves after the collision. John conducts four trials, striking the white ball differently in each trial to attain different speeds. The table below shows the distance traveled by the red ball when the white ball collides with it at different speeds.

Speed of Cue Ball (m/s) Distance Traveled by Billiard Ball (cm)
0.25 15
0.50 64
0.75 143
1.0 255

Which of the following statements best explains the results of the experiment?
A.
The white ball has more potential energy when it is moving faster.
B.
The white ball has more kinetic energy when it is moving slower.
C.
The white ball has less potential energy when it is moving slower.
D.
The white ball has more kinetic energy when it is moving faster.

Answer 1

The best explanation for the results of John's experiment is:

D. The white ball has more kinetic energy when it is moving faster.

This statement accurately reflects the relationship between the speed of the cue ball (white ball) and the distance traveled by the red ball after the collision. As the speed of the white ball increases, its kinetic energy increases (since kinetic energy is proportional to the square of the velocity: KE = 0.5 * m * v²). Consequently, this results in the red ball traveling further when it is struck by the faster-moving white ball.