Unit Five Content
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Types of Collisions
There are four basic types of collisions: elastic, totally elastic, inelastic, and totally inelastic. Totally inelastic collisions are the simplest types of collisions; kinetic energy is lost, and there are is deformation as the two objects stick together. With inelastic collisions, kinetic energy is "lost," and momentum is conserved. Both objects move at different final velocities as they both don't stick together although deformation occurs. Elastic collisions, or hard collisions, have no deformation and therefore no kinetic energy is lost. The momentum and the kinetic energy are conserved because the objects do not interact. Totally elastic collisions, or explosions, are the release of potential energy and kinetic energy increases. In these explosions, the center of mass remains unchanged.
Impulse
Impulse is the change in momentum, or average force * time. It is how the force acts over time. Impulse is not a property, you must apply it like work. With a force-time graph, by finding the average y-value, you are able to find the average force and solve for impulse. Impulse can also equal net force * change in time, by manipulating the net force equation. Additionally, impulse can also equal mass * change in velocity.
Momentum
Linear momentum is defined as mass * velocity. It is a conserved vector quantity. Momentum has a vector quantity, meaning it has direction, and it is what makes it "tough" to stop moving things. Net force equals the change in momentum over the change in time by Newton's Second Law. Due to Newton's Third Law, momentum is within an isolated system, meaning the total momentum never changes and remains constant. Momentum graphs help indicate how momentum has changed throughout the problem. The momentum changes when an external force interacts with an ioslated system.
Conservation of Momentum
Momentum is conserved when a system is completely isolated, with no external net force and no impulse. Therefore, momentum s conserved and you can use the conservation of momentum equation: pf = pi. Momentum is not conserved when the system is not isolated, meaning an external force acts upon a system, causing impulse. The final momentum is defferent then the initial momentum so you must use the impulse equation: J = Fnet * t.
Relating Momentum Energy, Forces, and Kinematics
Momentum energy depends on forces. Without forces there cannot be impulse, as the equation itslef relies on it. Using kinematics equations, we can connect Newton's Second Law to the impulse equation. In addition, we must always remember Newton's Third Law complements, as when applied to problems relating to momentum problems, for example an explosion problem. We also must understand how vectors factor into this, as the direction of the velocity and the momentum are the same.