Piston/bullet inelastic collision (not like other problems)

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves an inelastic collision between a bullet and a piston within a cylinder filled with air. The bullet, with a specified mass and velocity, strikes the piston, which is initially at rest. The scenario is set in an adiabatic context after the collision, raising questions about the behavior of the gas and the resulting motion of the piston.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the calculation of final velocities and kinetic energies before and after the collision. There are attempts to understand the relationship between pressure and volume in an adiabatic process, with some participants questioning how to find specific variables like displacement and spring constant.

Discussion Status

Some participants have provided insights into the relationships governing adiabatic processes, while others express confusion about how to apply these concepts to find the necessary variables. There is an ongoing exploration of the implications of energy loss and its effect on the gas within the cylinder.

Contextual Notes

Participants note the complexity of the problem due to the changing specific heat capacities of air with temperature and pressure, as well as the challenge of determining unknown variables in the equations provided by their professor.

Kyle2016
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Homework Statement


a bullet has mass=0.01kg velocity=150m/s, you have a cylinder with 5.0m^3 of air at STP with a piston at one end that has mass=0.1kg and surface area of 10cm^3 and is at rest. The bullet strikes and embeds itself into the piston.
The system is to be considered adiabatic after the collision

a)find the displacement of the piston

b)what is the time period of oscillation of the piston

Homework Equations


momentum, p=mv momentum of an inelastic collision= m1v1+m2v2= (m1+m2)V(final)
kinetic energy of the system before collision=(1/2)[mass(bullet)][velocity(bullet)]^2
kinetic energy of the system after collision=(1/2)[mass(bullet)+mass(piston)][velocity(final)]^2
F=ma, F=kx
time period of linear oscillation= 2(pi)sqrt([mass(bullet)+mass(piston)]/k)

The Attempt at a Solution


I calculated the final velocity- V(final)=[0.1*150]/[0.1+0.01]= 13.63636363...m/s

I calculated the kinetic energy before- (1/2)[0.1][150]^2=112.5 joules
I calculated the kinetic energy after-(1/2)[0.1+0.01][13.636363...]^2=10.2272 joules
Kinetic Energy lost=102.2728 joules <-this energy lost is imparted to the gas in the cylinder as heat(that is what we are told)
I know that a=(kx)/m
omega-w=sqrt(k/m) there for a=sqrt(k/m)[x/m]

I know that the gas in the cylinder exerts a force on the piston and this force will slow the pistons movement till it stops and then the force will over come it and push the piston out till a "vacuum" force pulls the piston back in and thus the linear oscillation begins. I can't for the life of me figure out how to find "x" or "k" for that matter.

The only other hint we were given is that air is to be considered diatomic for this problem and thus Cv=5/2 R and Cp=7/2 R thus gamma can be calculated as 7/5
but I don't know how this plays into it. Any insight would be helpful I have been staring at this and googling for at least 8 hours now.
 
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Kyle2016 said:

Homework Statement


a bullet has mass=0.01kg velocity=150m/s, you have a cylinder with 5.0m^3 of air at STP with a piston at one end that has mass=0.1kg and surface area of 10cm^3 and is at rest. The bullet strikes and embeds itself into the piston.
The system is to be considered adiabatic after the collision

a)find the displacement of the piston

b)what is the time period of oscillation of the piston

Homework Equations


momentum, p=mv momentum of an inelastic collision= m1v1+m2v2= (m1+m2)V(final)
kinetic energy of the system before collision=(1/2)[mass(bullet)][velocity(bullet)]^2
kinetic energy of the system after collision=(1/2)[mass(bullet)+mass(piston)][velocity(final)]^2
F=ma, F=kx
time period of linear oscillation= 2(pi)sqrt([mass(bullet)+mass(piston)]/k)

The Attempt at a Solution


I calculated the final velocity- V(final)=[0.1*150]/[0.1+0.01]= 13.63636363...m/s

I calculated the kinetic energy before- (1/2)[0.1][150]^2=112.5 joules
I calculated the kinetic energy after-(1/2)[0.1+0.01][13.636363...]^2=10.2272 joules
Kinetic Energy lost=102.2728 joules <-this energy lost is imparted to the gas in the cylinder as heat(that is what we are told)
I know that a=(kx)/m
omega-w=sqrt(k/m) there for a=sqrt(k/m)[x/m]

I know that the gas in the cylinder exerts a force on the piston and this force will slow the pistons movement till it stops and then the force will over come it and push the piston out till a "vacuum" force pulls the piston back in and thus the linear oscillation begins. I can't for the life of me figure out how to find "x" or "k" for that matter.

The only other hint we were given is that air is to be considered diatomic for this problem and thus Cv=5/2 R and Cp=7/2 R thus gamma can be calculated as 7/5
but I don't know how this plays into it. Any insight would be helpful I have been staring at this and googling for at least 8 hours now.

You have a piston and a cylinder filled with air. The bullet strikes the piston and drives it into the cylinder. What happens to the air inside the cylinder?

The clue is in this statement, "The system is to be considered adiabatic after the collision." What's the relationship between pressure and volume in a cylinder which can be considered adiabatic, i.e., there is no heat transfer to or from the cylinder to its surroundings?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adiabatic_process
 
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Consider P when the piston is displaced by some distance x . At that instant , what is the pressure ?

You will get P as a function of x , and thus F as a function of x .

So use a kinematic equation → a = v*(dv/dx) and solve from there .

Hope this helps .
 
SteamKing said:
You have a piston and a cylinder filled with air. The bullet strikes the piston and drives it into the cylinder. What happens to the air inside the cylinder?

The clue is in this statement, "The system is to be considered adiabatic after the collision." What's the relationship between pressure and volume in a cylinder which can be considered adiabatic, i.e., there is no heat transfer to or from the cylinder to its surroundings?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adiabatic_process

Okay this helped a lot... I can see that
6e0bc8d5bc392b6a685e362884024348.png

This would allow me to find P2 and thus V2, V2-V1 would tell me the change to give me x

The part that I'm stuck on is how to find T2. I know that I have 102.2728 joules of energy creating the temperature change thus I would be tempted to use Q(heat energy in joules)=mcΔT, but air's specific heat capacity changes with temperature and pressure thus how can I calculate delta T without knowing the P2 at which the specific heat capacity would be applied. Perhaps, I should just assume that the specific heat capacity is 1kJ/kg*K since the changes to the specific heat are rather small. Sorry for the questions. I think I might be over thinking this...
 
Do not use relation between P and T ; use the relation between P and V .
 
Qwertywerty said:
Do not use relation between P and T ; use the relation between P and V .

The only other equation I know is ((P1V1)^gamma)/T1=((P2V2)^gamma)/T2) this was provided by our professor because he said you have to account for the temp change but this still leaves me with too many unknowns.
 
The basic equation for an adiabetic process is P*(V)∧γ = constant .
 
Kyle2016 said:
The only other equation I know is ((P1V1)^gamma)/T1=((P2V2)^gamma)/T2) this was provided by our professor because he said you have to account for the temp change but this still leaves me with too many unknowns.

Are you sure about this equation ?
 

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