Analyzing collisions in classical mechanics using mass-momentum diagrams

DOI10.1088/1361-6404/AA750BzbMATH Open1386.70029arXiv1809.01768OpenAlexW2745089366MaRDI QIDQ4601945FDOQ4601945

Authors: Akihiro Ogura 

Publication date: 25 January 2018

Published in: European Journal of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We show the value of mass-momentum diagrams for analyzing collision problems in classical mechanics in one dimension. Collisions are characterized by the coefficient of restitution and the momentum of the interacting particles both before and after the collision. All those quantities are presented in the mass-momentum diagrams without the need to do any calculations. We also show that the same diagrams can be used to investigate collisions with respect to the center-of-mass system. In this case, also, we do not need to do any calculations to obtain the momentum. Since we give an alternative way of looking at collisions in classical mechanics, this article is aimed at undergraduate-level students.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.01768

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zbMATH Keywords

collisionconservation of momentumcenter-of-mass systemmass-momentum diagram

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Collisions in celestial mechanics, regularization (70F16)

Cites Work

• An illustrated guide to relativity
• Analysing collisions using Minkowski diagrams in momentum space

Cited In (4)

• Geometric parametrization of binary elastic collisions
• Newtonian and relativistic kinetic energy: analogous consequences of their conservation during elastic collisions
• Analysing collisions using Minkowski diagrams in momentum space
• Archimedes meets Einstein: a millennial geometric bridge

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