Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A uniform rod of mass and length lies at rest on a smooth horizontal table. A small puck of mass slides across the table at , at right angles to the rod, and strikes one end of it, as shown in the figure (a view from above). The collision is elastic.
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Given. Puck , rod , , so about the centre; .
Step 1. Three equations. Let be the puck's velocity after, that of the rod's centre, and the rod's angular velocity, all positive in the sense the puck pushes.
Step 2. Solve. The first two give and . Put them into the third: , which gives . Then
The puck carries on forwards, slowly.
Step 3. The point at rest. A point at distance from the centre, on the struck side, moves at . This is zero at : from the centre on the far side, that is from the far end.
Step 4. Energy. The puck had . After: puck , rod moving along , rod turning . The rotation takes .
Answer: (a) Puck forwards; centre ; . (b) The point from the far end. (c) .
Check. The three kinetic energies after the impact add up to , as an elastic collision needs. The struck end moves at , which is more than the puck's .
Watch out. Angular momentum must be taken about one point for every term. Here the rod's centre is convenient; any fixed point on the table works too, but then the rod's own linear momentum also has a moment.
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