Re: Equilibrium and Elastic Collsions

From: Ben Rudiak-Gould <br276deleteme@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 01 May 2005 19:34:30 +0100

pi2ovr6@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

In working out the perfectly elastic collision of two spherical
particles of equal mass, I noticed that the solution was very simple:
they just excahanged velocities! (It is easy to see this if you
transform the problem to the rest frame of one of the particles).

They exchange the velocity component along the axis normal to the plane of collision. The components within the plane are unchanged. I think this is enough to resolve your paradox even in an elastic Newtonian world. In the real world the idealization will also break down for other reasons, e.g. the uncertainly principle.

-- Ben
.

References:
- Equilibrium and Elastic Collsions
  - From: pi2ovr6

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