Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
Two identical smooth discs, each of mass and radius , lie on a smooth horizontal table. Disc B is at rest. Disc A slides towards it at , along a line that passes a distance from the centre of B, as shown in the figure. The coefficient of restitution between the discs is .
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.
Plan. Find the line of centres at impact. Along it, treat the collision as head-on; across it, nothing changes.
Step 1. The line of centres. At impact the centres are apart, and A's line of motion passes from B's centre. So the line of centres makes an angle with A's motion, where , that is .
Step 2. Split A's velocity. Along the line of centres: . Across it: . The smooth discs exert no force across the line, so that part of A's velocity stays, and B gets none of it.
Step 3. Along the line of centres. For equal masses with restitution , momentum and give
Step 4. Final velocities. B moves along the line of centres, at , from A's original direction. A has along that line and across it:
Its angle from the line of centres is . So A turns away from its original direction, on the other side from B.
Step 5. Angle between them. B moves along the line of centres, so the angle between the two velocities is A's angle from that line, .
Step 6. Energy. Before: . After: . Lost: , about .
Answer: (a) A: at to its first direction; B: at on the other side. (b) . (c) .
Check. Only the motion along the line of centres loses energy: , the same.
Watch out. The rule that equal masses fly off at holds only for an elastic collision (). With the angle is smaller.
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