Further Details
A COR greater than one is theoretically possible, representing a collision that generates kinetic energy, such as land mines being thrown together and exploding. For other examples, some recent studies have clarified that COR can take a value greater than one in a special case of oblique collisions. These phenomena are due to the change of rebound trajectory of a ball caused by a soft target wall.
A COR less than zero would represent a collision in which the separation velocity of the objects has the same direction (sign) as the closing velocity, implying the objects passed through one another without fully engaging. This may also be thought of as an incomplete transfer of momentum. An example of this might be a small, dense object passing through a large, less dense one - e.g. a bullet passing through a target, or a motorcycle passing through a motor home or a wave tearing through a dam.
The COR is a property of a collision, not a single object. If a given object collides with two different objects, each collision would have its own COR.
Generally, the COR is thought to be independent of collision speed. However, in a series of experiments performed at Florida State University in 1955, it was shown that the COR varies as the collision speed approaches zero, first rising significantly as the speed drops, then dropping significantly as the speed drops to about 1 cm/s and again as the collision speed approaches zero. This effect was observed in slow speed collisions involving a number of different metals.
Read more about this topic: Coefficient Of Restitution
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