A small steel block of mass 0.50kg slides without friction along a horizontal track and collides with a stationary block of mass 1.50kg placed on the same track. After impact the two blocks stick together and move as a single body.
a. (i) If the initial speed of the small block was 8.0ms−1, calculate the speed of the combined system immediately after the collision.
b. (ii) Determine the percentage loss of kinetic energy as a result of the collision.
c. (iii) State two practical reasons, based on the nature of the interaction, why collisions of this type are often used to measure impulse in laboratory experiments.