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Solution for the Moving Disc Problem

Problem Statement - A body of mass M with a small disc of mass m placed on it rests on a smooth horizontal plane. The disc is set in motion in the horizontal direction with velocityv. To what height (relative to the initial level) will the disc rise after breaking off the body M? The friction is assumed to be absent.

Correct solutions were provided by mark , Saurav, Kevin and Keenan Pepper mark's solution At the point that the disk is about to depart from mass M, both the disk and mass M are moving with horizontal velocity Vx. As no forces act on the system in the horizontal direction, both masses move continue to move with constant horizontal velocity Vx.

By Conservation of Momentum, we can write The disk rises to height h after breaking off the body M, so energy conservation gives us:

Saurav's solution When the disc is at the highest point , the disc and the plank both will me moving with the same velocity(v') as a single rigid mass. Applying energy conservation for the initial and the final case
12mv2=12(m+M)v2+mgh

Applying conservation of momentum for initial and final stage

mv=(M+m)v

Solving these two equations we get

v22g(MM+m)

Keenan Pepper's solution We assume that the part of the track that appears vertical is indeed perfectly vertical. This means that the small mass will be moving perfectly vertically relative to the large mass; in other words their final horizontal velocity components are equal. Denote by Vf this final velocity component. By conservation of momentum,
mv=(M+m)Vf

and by conservation of energy,

12mv2=mgh+12(M+m)Vf2

Therefore,
Vf=mM+mv 12mv2=mgh+12(M+m)m2(M+m)2v2

12v2=gh+12mM+mv2 gh=12v212mM+mv2 gh=12v2(1mM+m) gh=12v2MM+m h=v22gMM+m

This can be interpreted as the value v2/(2g) for a fixed track, corrected downward by the factor M/(M+m) resulting from the recoil of the large mass. The smaller the large mass is, the more it recoils and the more kinetic energy is robbed from the small mass.

Ball and the Turntable

A uniform density ball rolls without slipping and without rolling friction on a turntable rotating in a horizontal plane with angular velocity .

The ball moves in a circle of radius r centered on the pivot of the turntable. Find the angular velocity of motion of the ball around the pivot. (lihat sol21.pdf)