eli5, when a moving object bounces off of another, does it momentarily stop moving?
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Only in the situation in which two objects hit each other at 180 degrees from each other — think a perfect head on collision. In this case the two objects will first come to a complete stop before they bounce off each other and return along the exact same line they were traveling. Another way to think about this is two tennis balls with a string running through them – push each ball toward each other along the string (assuming zero friction) and they’ll stop.
If it’s off by even a fraction of a degree, you might not get a total “stop” of motion because of the rebound will now occur at an angle, and the object might not lose all its forward momentum.
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