Collisions between particles in 1D

In this section, we will show you how to handle collisions between particles when the approach direction of the particles lies along the line joining them. This situation can be described as a 1D collision because the motion of the particles takes place in a straight line, both before and after the collision. In general, two particles may collide at any angle, changing their direction as they do so. Therefore, the case discussed in this section may seem like a very special case. So why study it? The reason is that the methods and formulas that hold in this special case can be readily generalized to the more general case where the particles may collide at any angle. In fact, this will be done in the next section. ...

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