Lesson Plan

T ITLE MATERIALS OBJECTIVES

COLLISIONS IN TWO DIMENSIONS

DATE GRADE 11

Zambaks MECHANICS
The students can solve the collisions questions in two dimensions

Collisions in two dimensions

In the last two sections, head-on collisions have been analyzed.That is, collisions that take place in one dimension. In this section, collisions that take place in two dimensions will be analyzed. A good example of such a collision is the collision of two billiard balls moving in different directions after collision, as shown in figure. Ball 1 is heading along the x axis towards ball 2, which is initially at rest. Then ball 1 of mass m1, strikes ball 2 of mass m2 and they go off at angles 1 and 2, respectively. The velocities of the balls after their collision are labeled v1f and V2f, respectively. Assuming that they undergo a perfectly elastic collision, the law of conservation of momentum can be applied. Since Momentum is a vector quantity and the collision takes place in two dimensions, the equation will be applied along the x direction and along the y direction separately

P P
ix

fx

and

P P
iy

fy

m1v1ix m2 v2ix m1v1 fx m2 v2 fx m1v1iy m2 v2iy m1v1 fy m2 v2 fy

(along the x direction)

(along the y direction)

If the collision is perfectly inelastic in two dimensions the conservation of momentum can be applied as follows

P P
i

P P2 P 1 c
,

P P
ix

cx

P P
iy

cy

m1v1x m2 v2 x (m1 m2 )vcx

m1v1 y m2 v2 y (m1 m2 )vcy
where Vc refers to the common velocity after collision.

EXAMPLE :
A 2-kg object moving with a velocity of 5 m/s collides with a stationary object of mass m2 = 3 kg. The objects then move off in different directions, as shown in the figure. If the velocity of mass m1 after the collision is v1f = 3 m/s, what is the velocity of mass m2 after the collision?

SOLUTION 1
Since the collisions is not head-on, the conservation of momentum in the x and y directions can be analyzed separately. The conservation of momentum along the x axis is

i,x

Pf , x

Pix P2ix P fx P2 fx 1 1
m1v1i m2 0 m1v1 f cos530 m2v2 f cos370
(2 kg)(5 m/s) = (2 kg)(3 m/s)0.6 + (3 kg)V2f0.8
V2 f 8 m/s 3

SOLUTION 2
The velocity of mass m2, v2f can be obtained after the collision by applying the equation of conservation of momentum along the y axis.

i, y

Pf , y

Piy P2iy P fy P2 fy 1 1
0 (2kg )(3m / s)0.8 (3kg )v2 f 0.6

m1 0 m2 0 m1v1 f cos 530 m2v2 f cos 370

8 v2 f m / s 3