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  • N Identical Balls Lie Equally Spaced in A Semicircle On A Frictionless Horizontal Table

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    An experiment is described where identical balls of total mass M are arranged in a semicircle on a table. A ball of mass m approaches the semicircle from the left and bounces elastically off each ball in the semicircle before leaving directly to the left. The document asks (a) for the minimum ratio of M/m that allows the ball to exit directly left as N, the number of balls, approaches infinity and (b) to show that in this minimum case, the ratio of the ball's final to initial speed is e-π.

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    Multiple collision

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    An experiment is described where identical balls of total mass M are arranged in a semicircle on a table. A ball of mass m approaches the semicircle from the left and bounces elastically off each ball in the semicircle before leaving directly to the left. The document asks (a) for the minimum ratio of M/m that allows the ball to exit directly left as N, the number of balls, approaches infinity and (b) to show that in this minimum case, the ratio of the ball's final to initial speed is e-π.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    8 views1 page

    N Identical Balls Lie Equally Spaced in A Semicircle On A Frictionless Horizontal Table

    Uploaded by

    yashsodhani
    An experiment is described where identical balls of total mass M are arranged in a semicircle on a table. A ball of mass m approaches the semicircle from the left and bounces elastically off each ball in the semicircle before leaving directly to the left. The document asks (a) for the minimum ratio of M/m that allows the ball to exit directly left as N, the number of balls, approaches infinity and (b) to show that in this minimum case, the ratio of the ball's final to initial speed is e-π.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 1

    Week 29 (3/31/03)

    Balls in a semicircle

    N identical balls lie equally spaced in a semicircle on a frictionless horizontal table,


    as shown. The total mass of these balls is M . Another ball of mass m approaches
    the semicircle from the left, with the proper initial conditions so that it bounces
    (elastically) off all N balls and finally leaves the semicircle, heading directly to the
    left.

    Total mass M

    (a) In the limit N → ∞ (so the mass of each ball in the semicircle, M/N , goes to
    zero), find the minimum value of M/m that allows the incoming ball to come
    out heading directly to the left.

    (b) In the minimum M/m case found in part (a), show that the ratio of m’s final
    speed to initial speed equals e−π .

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