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190. Problem 3.32 (R) A body of rest mass
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travelling initially at a speed of 0.6 c, makes a completely
inelastic collision with an identical body initially at rest. We have to find
(a) the speed of the resulting body and (b) its rest mass.|
Solution: Click For PDF Version Energy of the body of rest mass
As the second particle has the same rest mass and is at rest its energy will be
Initial total energy of the two particles will therefore be
The momentum of the incident particle is
It is given that the collision is completely inelastic. In relativistic mechanics energy and momentum are conserved in all processes whether elastic or inelastic. Let the mass of the particle that results after the inelastic collision be M and let its velocity be V. From the conservation of energy, we have
From the conservation of momentum, we have
We thus find
And
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