Lecture

Collisions: Elasticity and Conservation Laws

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In course

PHYS-101(en): General physics : mechanics (English)

Students will learn the principles of mechanics to enable a better understanding of physical phenomena, such as the kinematics and dyamics of point masses and solid bodies. Students will acquire the capacity to quantitatively analyze these effects with the ...

Description

This lecture covers the principles of momentum and energy conservation in collisions, distinguishing between elastic and inelastic collisions. It explores how kinetic energy is preserved in elastic collisions, while inelastic collisions result in energy loss to other forms. The instructor demonstrates the application of these concepts through various scenarios, including perfectly inelastic collisions and collisions in two or three dimensions. The lecture also addresses conceptual questions related to the outcomes of different types of collisions, providing a comprehensive understanding of the topic.

Instructors (3)

Suliana Manley

From 2016 Associate professor, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland 2009-2016 Tenure-track assistant professor, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland 2006-2009 Post-Doctoral fellow, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA 2004-2006 Post-Doctoral fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA 1999-2004 PhD (Physics) Awarded 06/2004, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA 1993-1997 Bachelors (Cum Laude) Physics & Mathematics, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

Marcelo Baquero Ruiz

Teaching & PhD PhD Students Michael Goddijn, Cyrille Sepulchre Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Kadi Lyes Roland Courses Fusion and industrial plasma technologies PHYS-632 The course provides an overview of the technologies that are essential for fusion developments and for industrial plasmaapplications, highlighting the synergies between the two fields. The aim is to provide a combined theoretical andexperimental background to the various topics. General physics : mechanics (English

Justin Richard Ball

Dr. Justin Ball is a staff scientist studying theoretical plasma physics and nuclear fusion energy. His research primarily focuses on the effect of plasma shaping on turbulence in tokamaks. He is the principle investigator of the EUROfusion Theory, Simulation, Verification, and Validation project on negative triangularity. Additionally, he is an avid fusion science communicator via magazine articles, lectures, and podcasts. In 2019, he and Jason Parisi published a popular science book titled The Future of F

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Inelastic collision

An inelastic collision, in contrast to an elastic collision, is a collision in which kinetic energy is not conserved due to the action of internal friction. In collisions of macroscopic bodies, some kinetic energy is turned into vibrational energy of the atoms, causing a heating effect, and the bodies are deformed. The molecules of a gas or liquid rarely experience perfectly elastic collisions because kinetic energy is exchanged between the molecules' translational motion and their internal degrees of freedom with each collision.

Elastic collision

In physics, an elastic collision is an encounter (collision) between two bodies in which the total kinetic energy of the two bodies remains the same. In an ideal, perfectly elastic collision, there is no net conversion of kinetic energy into other forms such as heat, noise, or potential energy. During the collision of small objects, kinetic energy is first converted to potential energy associated with a repulsive or attractive force between the particles (when the particles move against this force, i.e.

Collision

In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word collision refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great force, the scientific use of the term implies nothing about the magnitude of the force. In physics, collisions can be classified by the change in the total kinetic energy of the system before and after the collision: If most or all of the total kinetic energy is lost (dissipated as heat, sound, etc.

Momentum

In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (: momenta or momentums; more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If m is an object's mass and v is its velocity (also a vector quantity), then the object's momentum p (from Latin pellere "push, drive") is: In the International System of Units (SI), the unit of measurement of momentum is the kilogram metre per second (kg⋅m/s), which is equivalent to the newton-second.

Head-on collision

A head-on collision is a traffic collision where the front ends of two vehicles such as cars, trains, ships or planes hit each other when travelling in opposite directions, as opposed to a side collision or rear-end collision. With railways, a head-on collision occurs most often on a single line railway. This usually means that at least one of the trains has passed a signal at danger, or that a signalman has made a major error. Head-on collisions may also occur at junctions, for similar reasons.

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