Odd question concerning the sedimentation of particles from a plate

[rarara]

Hi there,

I had clumps of particles on the underside of a plate. A ball bearing was dropped onto the plate which caused the clumps to detach and fall a short distance through still air onto a gel-coated microscope slide. Presumably, the distribution of clump sizes was altered during the fall (fragmentation). I would like to simulate the the fragmentation but I require a formula for the force acting on the clumps. I assume that most of the fragmentation occurred during the collision between the ball bearing and the plate. Could anyone advise me on how to approach this problem.

Thank you

 

[LightHero]

for your question. The force acting on the clumps during the fragmentation process can be calculated through the use of Newton's Second Law of Motion, which states that the force acting on an object is equal to its mass multiplied by its acceleration. In this case, the force acting on the clumps would be the sum of the force of gravity (which is equal to the mass of the clump times the gravitational constant) and the force of the collision between the ball bearing and the plate. To calculate the force of the collision between the ball bearing and the plate, you would need to know the mass of both objects, the angle of the collision, and the velocity of the ball bearing at the time of impact. Once you have these variables, you can use the equation F = m1v1 + m2v2 - m1v2 cos(θ), where F is the total force, m1 is the mass of the ball bearing, v1 is the velocity of the ball bearing, m2 is the mass of the clump, v2 is the velocity of the clump, and θ is the angle of the collision. I hope this information helps.