Press Start to begin the animation.
Two circular objects will move with pre-defined velocity (yellow arrow).Click left mouse button to suspend the animation. Now, you can
- Click near the tip of the velocity vector and drag the mouse button
left/right to change its value (the initial velocity of that object).
Click near the circular boundary and drag the mouse button to change
its radius.
Click near the center of the circle and drag the mouse to change its
location.
When the two objects collide, the animation will be suspend.
- Press the mouse button ( Do not release it)
to see the velocity vectors just after the collision.
- eta is the coefficient of restitution eat Vf/Vi
Vf=relative velocity just after collision
Vi=relative velocity just before collision
for elastic collision eta=1.
for perfectly inelastic collision eta=0.
to view the relative motion of all the objects.
- lab is a laboratory inertial frame.
m1, m2 and CM are frame of reference with respect to
- left circular object m1, right circular object m2
and center of mass for m1 and m2.
At the moment when they collide, the force between the two circle objects
is along the line which connect the center of the two objects.
Now we have 1-D collision problem:
two object move in the direction along the line connect between
their center,
with velocitys along this directions. (Red vectors)
The vector perpendicular to the above components (green vectors) will
not changed after collision.
(If there is no friction force between the two objects)
Your suggestions are highly appreciated! Please click hwang@phy03.phy.ntnu.edu.tw
Author¡GFu-Kwun Hwang, Dept. of physics, National Taiwan Normal UniversityLast modified : More physics related java applets