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Collision is defined as two objects colliding for a very brief period of time. In other terms, a collision is a reciprocal contact between two masses that occurs for a relatively brief period of time and results in changes in the momentum and energy of the colliding masses. You may have noticed the effect of a striker on coins when they collide while playing carroms.
Types of collision:
In most collisions between two masses, the law of conservation of momentum holds true, but there are rare collisions where Kinetic Energy is not conserved. Depending on the nature of energy conservation, there are two types of collision:
Elastic Collision:
Total momentum, total energy, and total kinetic energy are all conserved in an elastic collision. However, because the forces involved in the short interaction are preserved in nature, the entire mechanical energy is not transformed into any other energy type.
The equation following the law of conservation of momentum for elastic collision will be:
Inelastic collision:
The objects in an inelastic collision stick together or travel in the same direction. The entire kinetic energy is not conserved in this type of collision, but the total momentum and energy are. The energy is changed into various energy types such as heat and light during this type of collision.
Since in this type of collision the objects stick together and move in one direction, the equation for the momentum and kinetic energy will be:
Coefficient of Restitution:
The coefficient of restitution is the ratio of the relative velocities of colliding masses before and after the impact. The coefficient of restitution, denoted by ‘e,’ is determined by the material of the colliding masses. e = 1 for elastic collisions and e = 0 for inelastic collisions. In all other types of forceful encounters, the value of e lies between 0 and 1.
Centre of mass:
A point at which the entire mass of a body or all the masses of a system of particles appears to be concentrated is defined as the centre of mass of a body or system of particles. The centre of mass (also known as the balancing point) is a location at the centre of the mass distribution in space where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass has a sum of zero. The centre of mass is a place that is related to an item in simple terms.
It is the mean location of a mass distribution in space, or it is the average position of all the pieces of the system. It’s a point when force is normally applied to produce linear acceleration rather than angular acceleration.
Rigid Body:
We deal with extended bodies in practice, which can be deformable, non-deformable, or rigid. A system comprising an endlessly large number of particles with an infinitely small space between them is also known as an extended body. The difference between the distance between a body’s particles and their relative locations changes as it deforms. A rigid body is a long entity in which the separations and relative positions of all of its constituent particles are constant under all conditions.
It’s the average position of all the system’s components, weighted by their mass. The centroid is the location of the centre of mass for a simple rigid object with a homogeneous density.
Point Mass:
A point mass is a simplified version of a solid body. It has mass, but its dimensions are considered to be so small that the position of a point may be used to properly determine its location. Bodies with spatial extension can be thought of as a collection of extremely small mass elements, each of which can be considered a point mass.
Conclusion:
Collision is the phenomenon where two bodies collide for a very short period of time. There are two types of collision, elastic and inelastic. In elastic collision total momentum and energy is conserved whereas in inelastic collision the entire kinetic energy is not conserved but the total momentum is conserved. When a point mass collides with a rigid body it tends to produce an acceleration on the rigid body.
