Question

What is the difference between macroscopic and microscopic collisions?

Answer 1

My physics book says "To understand the distinction between the two collisions, consider the collision between two positive charges. Because the two particles are both positively charged, they repel each other. During such a microscopic collision, particles need not touch in the normal sense in order to interact and transfer momentum". But the book never actually says what is different.

Answer 2

Well when we're dealing with physics, microscopic is dealt with the very infinitesimal (very tiny) objects. When we mention macroscopic we assume it be objects such as cars and such, so when they compare microscopic collisions with macroscopic collisions, they are comparing the tiny things with small masses with larger objects, with massive masses :). Hope that helps!