Physics Explanation
Newton's cradle can be modeled with simple physics and minor errors if it is incorrectly assumed the balls always collide in pairs. If one ball strikes 4 stationary balls that are already touching, the simplification is unable to explain the resulting movements in all 5 balls, which are not due to friction losses. The simplification overestimates the kinetic energy in the 5th ball by 2.2%. All the animations in this article show idealized action (simple solution) that only occurs if the balls are not touching initially and only collide in pairs.
Read more about this topic: Newton's Cradle
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