Collisions II Exercise 2: Magnet-Magnet Collision – Center-Of-Mass

a) How is the centre-of-mass velocity defined? What would you expect to happen to the centre-of-mass velocity over the course of the collision? Why?

b) How would you calculate the kinetic energy associated with the centre-of-mass motion? What would you expect to happen to the centre-of-mass kinetic energy over the course of the collision? Why?

c) Use the Capstone calculator to create two new functions: one which calculates the velocity of the centre-of-mass of the two-cart system (call it “vcm”) and a second function which calculates the kinetic energy associated with the centre-of-mass motion (“Kcm”).

d) Have Capstone plot the velocity and add the new kinetic energy to your previous kinetic energy plots. Are these results consistent with your predictions from 2a) and 2b)?

Add Kcm to your sketch from Exercise 1.4.