Collisions

This series of interactive excel sheets investigate models involving collisions.

The first sheet simulates two particles colliding. Initial velocity, mass and resulting velocity of the two particles can be set, or a random set-up can be generated.

The second sheet contains six questions. The mass and initial velocity of two perfectly elastic particles are given, and students are to find the velocities after collision, as well as the impulse of the second particle.

The following sheet contains another six similar questions, however this time the coefficient of restitution, e, is less than one. A new set of questions can be generated each time.

In the fourth sheet the initial velocity and the value of e can be varied in order to investigate the velocity of rebound, the impulse, and the loss of kinetic energy when a particle collides with a vertical wall. The next sheet contains six questions on this model. Missing variables from a table are to be calculated. Answers can then be revealed.

The sixth sheet investigates the dropping and rebounding of a particle. The height and elasticity of the mass can be adjusted. The velocity at impact and rebound as well as the rebound height can be shown. The next sheet contains six questions in which missing variables from the table are to be calculated. The answers can be revealed one at a time.

Note
This program was designed by be viewed on a screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768. Users may have to adjust the resolution of their screen for the pages to display as was originally intended. The program uses macros which need to be enabled on users’ machine.