DISCUSSION ON THE PROBLEM OF INCOMPLETE ELASTIC COLLISION
Jianxin Li, Fulin ZHANG · Wuli yu gongcheng. · 2022
According to the change of mechanical energy, one-dimensional centripetal collision can be divided into elastic collision, perfectly inelastic collision and non-perfectly elastic collision. In this paper, these collisions have been described in a unified way by the restitution coefficient, which is introduced by comparing the energy loss of elastic collision and perfectly inelastic collision. The value of the restitution coefficient can help us understand the difference and connection between these collisions. Moreover, this approach can be naturally related to the basic concepts including the center-of-mass system, the theorem of motion of center-of-mass and the Koenig theorem. Finally, the coefficient of restitution is extended to the general non-central collisions.