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Chapter 9
Due: 12:00am on Saturday, July 3, 2010
No t e: Y ou w il l r ec ei ve no c re di t f or l at e s ub mi ss io ns . To learn more, read your instructor's Grading Policy

Introduction to Collisions
Description: Basic questions about two disks colliding, elastically and perfectly inelastically, with varied mass ratios.
General definition of elasticity of a collision introduced in the last part. Uses applets.
Learning Goal: To understand how to find the velocities of particles after a collision.
There are two main types of collisions that you will study: elastic and perfectly inelastic. In an elastic collision,
kinetic energy is conserved. In a perfectly inelastic collision, the particles stick together and thus have the same
velocity after the collision. There is actually a range of collision types, with elastic and perfectly inelastic at the
extreme ends. These extreme cases are easier to solve than the in-between cases.
In this problem, we will look at one of these in-between cases after first working through some basic calculations related
to elastic and perfectly inelastic collisions.
Let two particles of equal mass
initially stationary.

collide. Particle 1 has initial velocity

, directed to the right, and particle 2 is

Part A
If the collision is elastic, what are the final velocities
Hint A.1

and

of particles 1 and 2?

How to approach the problem

In analyzing any collision, you can always use the conservation of momentum as long as there are no external forces
acting on the colliding particles. In elastic collisions you can also use the conservation of energy. Each of these
conservation laws will allow you to write down an equation relating ,
, and . Once you have the equations, use
algebra to eliminate
from the system to get a formula for
in terms of . Then, go back to the original system and
eliminate
Hint A.2

to get a formula for

in terms of

Conservation of momentum

Which of the following formulas correctly expresses conservation of momentum for the two particles?
ANSWER:

Since the particles have equal mass, the term

Hint A.3

will factor out of both sides of the equation, leaving

Conservation of energy

Which of the following formulas correctly expresses conservation of energy for this part?
ANSWER:

Since the particles have equal mass,

(and a factor of

) will factor out of the equation, leaving

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Give the velocity

of particle 1 followed by the velocity
velocity in terms of .

of particle 2, separated by a comma. Express each

ANSWER:
=

Part B
Now suppose that the collision is perfectly inelastic. What are the velocities
collision?
Hint B.1

and

of the two particles after the

How to approach the problem

In analyzing any collision, you can always use the conservation of momentum. In perfectly inelastic collisions you can
also use the fact that the final velocities of the particles are equal. Each of these facts will allow you to write down
a linear equation relating
,
, and . Once you have the equation from conservation of momentum, simply substitute
using the equation
Hint B.2

to find the final velocity of each particle in terms of

Conservation of momentum

Which of the following formulas correctly expresses conservation of momentum for the two particles?
ANSWER:

Since the particles have equal mass, the term

will factor out of both sides of the equation, leaving

Give the velocity

of particle 1 followed by the velocity
velocities in terms of .

of particle 2, separated by a comma. Express the

ANSWER:
=

Part C
Now assume that the mass of particle 1 is
are the final velocities
Hint C.1

and

, while the mass of particle 2 remains

. If the collision is elastic, what

of particles 1 and 2?

How to approach the problem

In analyzing any collision, you can always use the conservation of momentum. In elastic collisions you can also use the
conservation of energy. Each of these conservation laws will allow you to write down a linear equation relating ,
,
and . Once you have the equations, you can use algebra to eliminate
from the system to get a formula for
in terms
of . Then, go back to the original system and eliminate
to get a formula for
in terms of .
Hint C.2

Conservation of momentum

Which of the following formulas correctly expresses conservation of momentum for the two particles?
ANSWER:

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Notice that

Hint C.3

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will factor out of both sides of the equation, leaving

Conservation of energy

Which of the following formulas correctly expresses conservation of energy for this part?
ANSWER:

Notice that

will divide out of the equation, leaving

Give the velocity

of particle 1 followed by the velocity
velocities in terms of .

of particle 2, separated by a comma. Express the

ANSWER:
=

Note that in both the conservation of momentum equation and the conservation of energy equation,
cancels out. This
is a general feature of many collision situations: The ratio of the two masses is important, but the absolute masses
are not.
Part D
Let the mass of particle 1 be

and the mass of particle 2 be

. If the collision is perfectly inelastic, what are the

velocities of the two particles after the collision?

Hint D.1

How to approach the problem

In analyzing any collision, you can always use the conservation of momentum. In perfectly inelastic collisions you can
also use the fact that the final velocities of the particles are equal. Each of these facts will allow you to write down
a linear equation relating
,
, and . Once you have the equation from conservation of momentum, simply substitute
using the equation
to find the final velocity of each particle in terms of .
Hint D.2

Conservation of momentum

Which of the following formulas correctly expresses conservation of momentum for the two particles?
ANSWER:

Notice that

will factor out of both sides of the equation, leaving

Give the velocity

of particle 1 followed by the velocity

of particle 2, separated by a comma. Express the

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velocities in terms of

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ANSWER:
=

This applet shows two disks colliding. The orange disk has always the same initial velocity. You can change the ratio of
the masses of the two disks and the elasticity
of the collision. You should try the four different settings
corresponding to Parts A through D. An elastic collision has elasticity
elasticity

, and a perfectly inelastic collision has

Part E
What qualitative change takes place as the ratio of the mass of the blue disk to the mass of the orange disk,

increases from 0.3 to 4.0? Set the elasticity to 1.0 for a perfectly elastic collision.
ANSWER:

The final speed of the orange disk decreases as the ratio of masses increases.
As the ratio increases past 1.0, the final velocity of the orange disk changes direction.
The difference in final velocities between the disks decreases.
The difference in final velocities between the disks increases.

Most real collisions are somewhere between elastic and perfectly inelastic. This is indicated by the elasticity

of the

collision, which measures the difference in the velocities of the particles after the collision compared with the
difference in velocities before the collision. For instance, in a perfectly inelastic collision, the two particles stick
together after colliding. The elasticity of such a collision is
, because the difference in velocities between the
particles is 0 after they collide.
Technically, the elasticity is defined by the relation
velocities of particle 1, and
and
is simplified by our definition of

, where

and

are the initial and final

are the initial and final velocities of particle 2. In this problem, the formula
and the hypothesis
. So, using
for the final velocity of particle 1 and

for the final velocity of particle 2, we obtain the simpler formula

This final form will be most useful to you in solving Part F.

Part F
If the two particles with equal masses

collide with elasticity

particles? Assume that particle 1 has initial velocity

sure that your answer is reasonable.
Hint F.1

, what are the final velocities of the

and particle 2 is initially at rest. Look at the applet to be

How to approach the problem

You know that in any collision you can use the conservation of momentum. This will be the same as it was in Part A for
equal masses colliding:
. The second equation that you can form is from the definition of elasticity:
. Here,

. You can solve these two equations to find

Give the velocity

of particle 1 followed by the velocity
velocities in terms of .

and

of particle 2, separated by a comma. Express the

ANSWER:
=

Notice that if you look back at your answers to Parts A and C, the diference between
and
is always , as you
would expect from setting
in the definition of elasticity. It is possible, though it takes some algebra, to
prove that the definition of elasticity with

implies conservation of energy.

This applet is the same as the previous one, but now you are given a graph of the momentum for each disk at the
bottom. Run a few of the collisions that you have studied in this problem so that you can see how the momenta of the
two disks change with differing elasticities and mass ratios.

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Also in this applet you can have the two disks collide off-center. While this looks much more complicated, the law of
conservation of momentum still always applies. With a modification to make it more precise for two- and threedimensional collisions, the definition of elasticity still applies as well.

Problem 9.20
Description: A plutonium-239 nucleus at rest decays into a uranium-235 nucleus by emitting an alpha particle ^4 (He) with
kinetic energy of 5.15 MeV. (a) What is the speed of the uranium nucleus?
A plutonium-239 nucleus at rest decays into a uranium-235 nucleus by emitting an alpha particle
5.15

with kinetic energy of

Part A
What is the speed of the uranium nucleus?
ANSWER:
=

Problem 9.25
Description: An object with kinetic energy K explodes into two pieces, each of which moves with twice the speed of the
original object. (a) Compare the internal energy K_int and center-of-mass energy K_cm after the explosion.
An object with kinetic energy

explodes into two pieces, each of which moves with twice the speed of the original object.

Part A
Compare the internal energy

ANSWER:

and center-of-mass energy

after the explosion.

Problem 9.23
Description: A m trick baseball is thrown at v. It explodes in flight into two pieces, with a m1 piece continuing
straight ahead at v1. (a) How much energy do the pieces gain in the explosion?
A 120

trick baseball is thrown at 75

ahead at 86

. It explodes in flight into two pieces, with a 50

piece continuing straight

Part A
How much energy do the pieces gain in the explosion?
Express your answer using two significant figures.
ANSWER:
=

Problem 9.45
Description: A ^238 U nucleus is moving in the x direction at v when it decays into an alpha particle ^4 (He) and a ^234
(Th) nucleus. (a) If the alpha particle moves off at phi above the x axis with a speed of v1, what is the speed of the
thorium nucleus? (b)...
A

nucleus is moving in the

direction at 4.710

when it decays into an alpha particle

and a

nucleus.
Part A

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If the alpha particle moves off at 22

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above the

axis with a speed of 1.310

, what is the speed of the thorium

nucleus?
Express your answer using two significant figures.
ANSWER:
=

Part B
What is the direction of the motion of the thorium nucleus?
Express your answer using two significant figures.
ANSWER:

clockwise from the

-axis

Problem 9.72
Description: A m1 projectile is launched at v1 at a phiangle to the horizontal. At the peak of its trajectory it collides
with a second projectile moving horizontally, in the opposite direction, at v2. The two stick together and land s
horizontally downrange from...
A 14

projectile is launched at 380

at a 55 angle to the horizontal. At the peak of its trajectory it collides with a

second projectile moving horizontally, in the opposite direction, at 140

. The two stick together and land 9.0

horizontally downrange from the first projectile's launch point.

Part A
Find the mass of the second projectile.
Express your answer using two significant figures.
ANSWER:
=

Score Summary:
Your score on this assignment is 0%.
You received 0 out of a possible total of 44 points.

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