When is distance and displacement not the same

A23 kg log of wood begins from rest, 300 m up a sluice (a water track used to transport logs, think of it as an inclined plane with negligible friction) inclined at 20° to the horizontal. after it reaches the flat waterway at the bottom it collides elastically with a 100 kg block of wood initially at rest near the base of the incline. (a) how long does it take the 23 kg log to travel down the incline? (b) what is the speed of the 23 kg log at the bottom of the incline? (c) what are the velocities of both blocks of wood after the collision? (d) what is the total kinetic energy before the collision? (e) what is the kinetic energy of the 23 kg log after the collision? (f) what is the kinetic energy of the 100 kg block of wood after the collision? (g) what is the total kinetic energy after the collision? (h) compare the total initial and total final kinetic energies. is this consistent with what you would expect for elastic collisions? explain!

Alinearly polarized electromagnetic wave has an average intensity of 196 w/m^2. this wave is directed towards two ideal polarizers (in real polarizers, transmission is also effected by reflection and absorption). polarizer a is oriented with its transmission axis at an angle of θ_1=20.8∘ with the incident electric field. polarizer b has its axis at an angle of θ_2=63.0∘ with the incident electric field. what is the average intensity of the wave after it passes through polarizer a? what is the average intensity of the wave after it passes through polarizer b? suppose that the two polarizers a and b are interchanged. what would the average intensity be after passing through both polarizers?

Most short-period comets do not have randomly oriented orbits because