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Collision and Glancing Collision

Collision, also called impact, in physics, the sudden, forceful coming together in direct contact of two bodies, such as, for example, two billiard balls, a golf club and a ball, a hammer and a nail head, two railroad cars when being coupled together, or a falling object and a floor.

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Michael Años Carmona
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31 views

Collision and Glancing Collision

Collision, also called impact, in physics, the sudden, forceful coming together in direct contact of two bodies, such as, for example, two billiard balls, a golf club and a ball, a hammer and a nail head, two railroad cars when being coupled together, or a falling object and a floor.

Uploaded by

Michael Años Carmona
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Collisions

Conservation of Energy and Momentum

In an inelastic collision the total kinetic energy after the collision is not equal to the total
kinetic energy before the collision.

At this point we will expand our discussion of inelastic collisions in one dimension to
inelastic collisions in multiple dimensions. It is still true that the total kinetic energy after
the collision is not equal to the total kinetic energy before the collision. While inelastic
collisions may not conserve total kinetic energy, they do conserve total momentum.

We will consider an example problem in which one mass (m1) slides over a frictionless
surface into another initially stationary mass (m2). Air resistance will be neglected. The
following things are known:
where v1 is the initial velocity of the first mass, v’1 is the final velocity of the first
mass, v2 is the initial velocity of the second mass, and θ’1 is the angle between the
velocity vector of the first mass and the x-axis.

The object is to calculate the magnitude and direction of the velocity of the second
mass. After this, we will calculate whether this collision was inelastic or not.

Since there are no net forces at work (frictionless surface and negligible air resistance),
there must be conservation of total momentum for the two masses. Momentum is equal
to the product of mass and velocity. The initially stationary mass contributes no initial
momentum. The components of velocities along the x-axis have the form v⋅cosθ, where
θ is the angle between the velocity vector of the mass of interest and the x-axis.

Expressing these things mathematically:

The components of velocities along the y-axis have the form v \cdot sin θ, where θ is
the angle between the velocity vector of the mass of interest and the x-axis. By applying
conservation of momentum in the y-direction we find:
Glancing Collisions

Glancing collision is a collision that takes place under a small angle, with the incident
body being nearly parallel to the surface.

A collision is short duration interaction between two bodies or more than two bodies
simultaneously causing change in motion of bodies involved due to internal forces acted
between them during this. Collisions involve forces (there is a change in velocity). The
magnitude of the velocity difference at impact is called the closing speed. All collisions
conserve momentum. What distinguishes different types of collisions is whether they
also conserve kinetic energy. Line of impact – It is the line which is common normal for
surfaces are closest or in contact during impact. This is the line along which internal
force of collision acts during impact and Newton’s coefficient of restitution is defined
only along this line.

When dealing with an incident body that is nearly parallel to a surface, it is sometimes
more useful to refer to the angle between the body and the surface, rather than that
between the body and the surface normal (see ), in other words 90° minus the angle of
incidence. This small angle is called a glancing angle. Collision at glancing angle is
called “glancing collision”.
Collisions can either be elastic, meaning they conserve both momentum and kinetic
energy, or inelastic, meaning they conserve momentum but not kinetic energy. An
inelastic collision is sometimes also called a plastic collision.

A “perfectly-inelastic” collision (also called a “perfectly-plastic” collision) is a limiting


case of inelastic collision in which the two bodies stick together after impact.

The degree to which a collision is elastic or inelastic is quantified by the coefficient of


restitution, a value that generally ranges between zero and one. A perfectly elastic
collision has a coefficient of restitution of one; a perfectly-inelastic collision has a
coefficient of restitution of zero.

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