Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

A cue ball traveling at 4.0 m/s makesa glancing, elastic collision with a target

ID: 1753396 • Letter: A

Question

A cue ball traveling at 4.0 m/s makesa glancing, elastic collision with a target ball of equal mass thatis initially at rest. The cue ball is deflected so that it makes anangle of 30° with its original direction of travel. (a) Find the angle between the velocity vectorsof the two balls after the collision.

(b) Find the speed of each ball after the collision. cue ball 2 m/s target ball 3 m/s (a) Find the angle between the velocity vectorsof the two balls after the collision.

(b) Find the speed of each ball after the collision. cue ball 2 m/s target ball 3 m/s cue ball 2 m/s target ball 3 m/s

Explanation / Answer

let u = velocity of cue ball before collision = 4 m/s in the xdirection v = velocity of cue ball after collision at angle 300 tox direction V = velocity of target ball after collision at angle - to xdirection (i.e., below the axis) momentum conservation in the x-direction gives mu = mv cos 300 + mV cos u = v 3/2 + V cos >>> equation A momentum conservation in the y-direction gives 0 = mv sin 300 - mV sin v/2 = V sin >>> equation B KE conservation gives (1/2)mu2 = (1/2)mv2 + (1/2)mV2 u2 = v2 + V2 >>>equation C u2 - v2 = V2 = v2/4 +(u - v3/2)2 = v2/4 + u2 +3v2/4 - uv3 = v2 + u2 -uv3 2v2 = uv3 v = u3/2 V = (u2 - v2 ) = u/2 sin = v/(2V) = 3/2 = 600 angle between v and V = 900 hope this helps!