Question

When two identical objects traveling at the same speed collide head-on, an observer standing in the earth reference frame sees both objects changing direction?

Answer 1

No, I think. I'm not sure what the Q meant.

Answer 2

When the two identical objects traveling at the same speed collide head-on, the two objects will stop without changing direction.

Elastic collision

Both kinetic energy and momentum of objects  during elastic collision is always conserved.

During a head-on collision of two identical objects, the objects will move in opposite direction to conserve momentum and kinetic energy.

The momentum of the two identical objects is given as;

m₁u₁ + m₁u₂ = P

m₁ = m₂, and u₁ = u₂

since they are moving in opposite direrction,

m₁u₁ + m₂(-u₂) = P

m₁u₁ - m₁u₂ = 0

where;

• u₁ is the initial velocity of the first object
• u₂ is the initial velocity of the second object

Thus, when the two identical objects traveling at the same speed collide head-on, the two objects will stop without changing direction since their momentum are equal.

Learn more about momentum here: https://brainly.com/question/7538238