Elastic Collisions in Galilean Relativity

time relative to collision

-10

s

object 1

mass

5.

kg

speed

10.

m/s

object 2

mass

3.

kg

speed

5.

m/s

observer velocity (m/s)

	1.1
1.1

According to the principle of relativity, observers in inertial frames, moving at constant velocities relative to a fixed frame of reference, will experience the same laws of physics, although with different values of observables. In this Demonstration, we consider an observer moving at velocity



v

relative to the center of mass of two particles undergoing an elastic collision. Different observers will disagree on the magnitudes of momenta and kinetic energy of the system, but they both will agree on the conservation of momentum and energy.

This Demonstration is based on Galilean relativity, which is an approximation to Einstein's special relativity, accurate only at speeds far slower than the speed of light. You can select the masses

m

1

and

m

2

of the two particles and their initial speeds

v

1

and

v

2

, as well as two components of the observer's velocity



v

0

. This velocity vector is shown, along with the speed

v

0

. The speeds

v

1

and

v

2

and the total kinetic energy are also shown on the graphic.