[OLPC library] [OLPC-Games] Physics -- Newtonian mechanics.. for kids!

Benjamin M. Schwartz bmschwar at fas.harvard.edu
Tue Jul 15 17:51:52 EDT 2008


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Edward Cherlin wrote:
| On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 1:21 PM, Yoshiki Ohshima <yoshiki at vpri.org> wrote:
|>  But if you put a circle on
|> the floor (stand still), and make another hit from the side, the
|> momentum is shared by these two circles and both of them move together
|> at the same speed.
|
| That's unphysical, and I would only program that way in a fantasy
| setting. In a head-on elastic collision of two circles of equal mass,
| the hitter should stop dead, transferring all of its energy and
| momentum to the one it hit.

Yoshiki has described the classic "inelastic collision", and Edward has
described the classic "elastic collision".  Both are physical, and both
behaviors, as well as the full range between them, are seen in the real world.

(I don't know why I'm talking about this, though.)

- --Ben
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iEYEARECAAYFAkh9G/gACgkQUJT6e6HFtqSONACdFfONVYE0js6e39rl1cO0cz0c
z9EAoIpy8zKSIMAq2ZBdwsUio9o56RN/
=ut+4
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----


More information about the Library mailing list