pool

this weekend i was playing pool and remembered that we were just talking about pool in physics. this game has a lot to do with physics in terms of momentum as well as kinetic energy. as i struck the cue ball into the other balls, force was exerted onto the other balls, however, the total momentum remained the same. This is due to the conservation of momentum. The cue ball had momentum before it hit the other balls, which were stationary and therefore had no momentum. When the balls struck each other, momentum was transferred to the other balls but the total amount remained constant. I also realized that when the balls stuck, an elastic collision was taking place. Although a very small amount of kinetic energy is lost when the balls collide, total kinetic energy is practically the same before and after the collision.