I'm trying to understand conservation of linear momentum and collisions. I've arrived at a contradiction in my derivation of final, post collision velocities for two masses – the force derivation and momentum derivation of final velocity differ and I'm looking for some expert insight into what I did wrong.
Let us have two masses m1 and m2 with positions $x_1
I'm thinking that while m1 has a zero acceleration, it has an effective force as it gains momentum which is active during the collision. Because ˙v1=˙v2=0, the net force is zero and we therefore have conservation of linear momentum:
Pinitial=Pfinal=p1i+p2i=p1f+p2f
Because F=dpdt=mdvdt, we have
Ft=mv=p
Defining t1 as the duration that m1 has held a constant velocity v1i and and substituting t1,m1,v1i into (2) we have initial force on collision Fi=m1v1iti. This tells us that momentum increases with time, but initial force on collision decreases.
Defining t2 as the time when the collison is over (and t1 initial time of collision), we have x1(t)=∫t2t1[v1i+∫t2t1[−v1it]]dt2
x2(t)=∫t2t1∫t2t1[m1v1im2t]dt2
ta = 10
m1 = 100
m2 = 1
v1 = 2
Remove[x1]
Remove[x2]
x1[t_] := Integrate[v1 + Integrate[-v1/t, t], t]
x2[t_] := Integrate[Integrate[m1*v1/(m2*ta), t], t]
FindRoot[x1[a] - x2[a] + 10^-6, {a, 0.0001}]
Yielding tc≈0.
From these two equations (3) and (4), we can set
v1(t)=∫t2t1[v1i−v1it]dtv2(t)=∫t2t1[m1v1im2t]dt
But law of conservation of momentum tells us otherwise. v2f=(2m1m1+m2)v1i
v1f=(m1−m2m1+m2)v1i
I really have no idea what false assumption I am making.
Answer
Experimentally, when m1 and m2 collide, v2 accelerates in the positive direction of the x-axis, even when v1 is constant.
This does not make sense.
If you have a collision then v1 must change.
In terms of momentum if m2 has gained momentum because it has accelerated then m1 must lose momentum and so its velocity must change.
The two forces involved are the force on mass 1 due to mass 2 and the equal in magnitude but opposite in direction force on mass 2 due to mass 1. At all times they are equal and opposite so the impulses, ∫Fdt, (which is equal to the change in momentum) the two masses experience are also equal and opposite.
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