PHYS 17200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Kinetic Energy, Electronvolt
Document Summary
Phys 17200 - modern mechanics - lecture 18_collisions. A collision is a brief interaction between objects involving large forces. Remember that we can use both the energy and momentum principles when predicting and explaining systems" behavior. When analyzing a collision it is useful to apply these principles to the system consisting of all the colliding objects. Because external forces are small compared to those that act between objects during the collision we can neglect them. When colliding objects" internal energies do not change we say the collision is elastic . When one or more objects" internal energy does change the collision is inelastic . Working in a coordinate system in which the center of mass of the system of colliding objects is at rest can simplify analysis of a collision. An electron (kelectron = 1ev) is heading straight toward atom a, which is at rest and in its ground state. Only possibility is for atom to get excited.
