A Special Case (Collision)

"Boing!"

Elastic Collisions

An interesting, special case of an elastic collision is a collision in which one of the objects is initially at rest (v2i = 0).


Click on an example below to watch an animation.




An interesting situation is when the two masses are equal. For m1 = m2, we find that

v1f= 0
v2f = v1i

This is illustrated with the "colliding balls" apparatus shown here, also known as "Newton's Pendulum".

Elastic collisions

Rocket Propulsion

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(c) 2005, Doug Davis; all rights reserved