How to Use Conservation of Energy to Calculate Sphere Collision Velocity?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mustangguy289
  • Start date Start date
mustangguy289
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Ive got this one homework problem that i am totally clueless on. Any help?
"Two insulating spheres having radii 0.34 cm and 0.54 cm, masses 0.13kg and 0.58 kg, and charges -3x10^-6 C and 2x10^-6 C are released from rest when their centers are separated by 1.2m.

How fast is the smaller sphere moving when they collide? Answer in units m/s."
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Anyone know how to do this. Our professor hasnt really showed us yet.
 
mustangguy289 said:
Ive got this one homework problem that i am totally clueless on. Any help?
"Two insulating spheres having radii 0.34 cm and 0.54 cm, masses 0.13kg and 0.58 kg, and charges -3x10^-6 C and 2x10^-6 C are released from rest when their centers are separated by 1.2m.

How fast is the smaller sphere moving when they collide? Answer in units m/s."
This problem has to do with electrical potential energy and conservation of energy. It is very similar to a gravitational attraction problem, but here the force is electrical instead of gravitational.
 
wrong forum
 
Last edited:
use conservation of energy.

what is the initial potential energy? what is the final potential energy?

by gauss's law the electric field of uniformly charged spheres can be treated in the same manner as point charges (when distance is greater than the radius). So from there, you should be able to find the potential energy.
 

Thread 'Initial conditions for orbits around a wormhole'

Hi, I had an exam and I completely messed up a problem. Especially one part which was necessary for the rest of the problem. Basically, I have a wormhole metric: $$(ds)^2 = -(dt)^2 + (dr)^2 + (r^2 + b^2)( (d\theta)^2 + sin^2 \theta (d\phi)^2 )$$ Where ##b=1## with an orbit only in the equatorial plane. We also know from the question that the orbit must satisfy this relationship: $$\varepsilon = \frac{1}{2} (\frac{dr}{d\tau})^2 + V_{eff}(r)$$ Ultimately, I was tasked to find the initial...
View full post »

Thread 'Help to convert units of a simple formula'

The value of H equals ## 10^{3}## in natural units, According to : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_units, ## t \sim 10^{-21} sec = 10^{21} Hz ##, and since ## \text{GeV} \sim 10^{24} \text{Hz } ##, ## GeV \sim 10^{24} \times 10^{-21} = 10^3 ## in natural units. So is this conversion correct? Also in the above formula, can I convert H to that natural units , since it’s a constant, while keeping k in Hz ?
View full post »

Similar threads

Colliding Spheres Homework Problem - Find Answer in m/s
Replies
3
Views
3K
Electric potential energy of two charged spheres
Replies
7
Views
8K
Velocity of insulating sphere before colliding with other insulatin spherre
Replies
1
Views
3K
Velocity of two insulating charged spheres at collision
Replies
3
Views
4K
Two sphere collision -- What's the speed?
Replies
6
Views
3K
What Happens to Sphere Velocities After an Elastic Collision?
Replies
1
Views
4K
How to calculate velocities/forces from sphere collisions?
Replies
11
Views
3K
Sphere sliding up a step - Inelastic Collision
Replies
17
Views
4K
I Toppling a Hemisphere: Solving for Kinetic Energy in a Delicate Collision
Replies
2
Views
2K
Velocity of two spheres under gravitational attraction
Replies
2
Views
1K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top