Amoving curling stone, a, collides head on with stationary stone, b. stone b has a larger mass than stone a. if friction is negligible during this linear elastic collision, a)stone a will slow down but continue moving forward b) stone a will rebound and stone b will move forward c) stone a will rebound but stone b will remain stationary d) stone a will stop and stone b will move forward

The correct answer is option 'c': Smaller stone rebounds while as larger stone remains stationary.

Explanation:

Let the velocity and the mass of the smaller stone be 'm' and 'v' respectively

and the mass of big rock be 'M'

Initial momentum of the system equals

Now let after the collision the small stone move with a velocity v' and the big roch move with a velocity V'

Thus the final momentum of the system is

Equating initial and the final momenta we get

Now since the surface is frictionless thus the energy is also conserved thus

Similarly the final energy becomes

\

Equating initial and final energies we get

Solving i and ii we get

Using this in equation i we get

Thus putting v = -v' in equation i  we get V' = 0

This implies Smaller stone rebounds while as larger stone remains stationary.