Collisions

CLAIMED BY MEGAN STEVENS SECOND EDIT BY SUNGJAE HYUN IN 2016-04-16

This topic covers Collisions, a comprehensive way to combine the Momentum and Energy Principles.

The Main Idea

Collisions are special types of contact interactions between objects. From a physics standpoint, collisions are a way to combine the Momentum and Energy Principles. In the case of collisions, if we choose a system of the two objects interacting, the change in momentum of the system and the change in energy of the system are both zero. With this in mind, calculations with collisions become very simple. There are two types of collisions, Elastic Collisions and Inelastic Collisions.

A Mathematical Model

What are the mathematical equations that allow us to model this topic. For example [math]\displaystyle{ {\frac{d\vec{p}}{dt}}_{system} = \vec{F}_{net} }[/math] where p is the momentum of the system and F is the net force from the surroundings.

A Computational Model

How do we visualize or predict using this topic. Consider embedding some vpython code here Teach hands-on with GlowScript

Examples

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Simple

Example 1) A 0.5 kg soccer ball is moving with a speed of 5 m/s directly toward to 0.7 kg basket ball which is at rest. When two balls collide and sticks together what will their final velocity be?

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m1 = 0.5 kg v1,init = 5 m/s m2 = 0.7 kg v2,init = 0 m/s

So m1 * v1 + m2 * + v2 = (m1 + m2) * vfinal

LHS = 0.5 * 5 + 0.7 * 0 = 2.5 kg*m/s RHS = (0.5 + 0.7) * vfinal = 1.2 * vfinal

LHS = RHS in inelastic collision

2.5 = 1.2 * vfinal

vfinal = 2.5 / 1.2 = 2.08333

Thus, the final velocity is 2.08 m/s.

Middling

A bullet of 50 caliber machine gun is 42 grams. It strikes a wooden target block of mass 10 kg stationed on a friction-less surface.

Connectedness

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See also

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Further reading

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References

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