A ball drops from the ceiling of the room, and after rebounding twice from the floor, reaches a height equal to half that of ceiling. Find the coefficient of restitution?
Let h = height of ceiling.
⇒ speed before first impact = √2gh ⇒ speed after first impact = e√2gh
The ball comes back for second impact, now its speed just before second impact = speed after first impact.
⇒ before second impact, speed = e√2gh ⇒ after second impact, speed = e2√2gh
This speed is the initial speed u for upward motion after second impact.
High attained = u22g ⇒ h2 = [e2√2gh]22g⇒h2 = e2(2gh)2g⇒e = 1√2