Question

A ball of mass M collides with a stick with moment of inertia I = βml2 (relative to its center, which is its center of mass). The ball is initially traveling at speed V0 perpendicular to the stick. The ball strikes the stick at a distance d from its center. The collision is elastic.

a). Find the resulting translational and rotational speeds of the stick.
b). Find the resulting speed of the ball.

Answer 1

Answer:

Part a)

$v_2 = \frac{\frac{2\beta mL^2v_o}{d}}{(md + \frac{\beta mL^2}{d}(1 + \frac{m}{M})}$

Part b)

$v_1 = v_0 - \frac{m}{M}(\frac{\frac{2\beta mL^2v_o}{d}}{(md + \frac{\beta mL^2}{d}(1 + \frac{m}{M})})$

Explanation:

Since the ball and rod is an isolated system and there is no external force on it so by momentum conservation we will have

$Mv_o = M v_1 + m v_2$

here we also use angular momentum conservation

so we have

$M v_o d = M v_1 d + \beta mL^2 \omega$

also we know that the collision is elastic collision so we have

$v_o = (v_2 + d\omega) - v_1$

so we have

$\omega = \frac{v_o + v_1 - v_2}{d}$

also we know

$M v_o d - M v_1 d = \beta mL^2(\frac{v_o + v_1 - v_2}{d})$

also we know

$v_1 = v_o - \frac{m}{M}v_2$

so we have

$M v_o d - M(v_o - \frac{m}{M}v_2)d = \beta mL^2(\frac{v_o + v_o - \frac{m}{M}v_2 - v_2}{d})$

$mv_2 d = \beta mL^2\frac{2v_o}{d} - \beta mL^2(1 + \frac{m}{M})\frac{v_2}{d}$

now we have

$(md + \frac{\beta mL^2}{d}(1 + \frac{m}{M})v_2 = \frac{2\beta mL^2v_o}{d}$

$v_2 = \frac{\frac{2\beta mL^2v_o}{d}}{(md + \frac{\beta mL^2}{d}(1 + \frac{m}{M})}$

Part b)

Now we know that speed of the ball after collision is given as

$v_1 = v_o - \frac{m}{M}v_2$

so it is given as

$v_1 = v_0 - \frac{m}{M}(\frac{\frac{2\beta mL^2v_o}{d}}{(md + \frac{\beta mL^2}{d}(1 + \frac{m}{M})})$