Lecture 3.

1
System of Particles
Conservation of Momentum
• We've applied Newton's laws to point
particles. But, many applications concern
extended objects : cars, rockets,
people…
• cars, rockets, people…=system of
particles
Center of Mass moves in a
straight line. ( white dots)
Other parts rotate around CM
 MOTION
MOTION of MOTION
= of the CENTER of MASS of individual particles
AN OBJECT + Relative to the CENTER of MASS
or SYSTEM OF PARTICLES

1. Center of Mass (CM)

2. Motion of Center of Mass
3. Conservation of system momentum
4. Kinetic Energy of a System
5. Collisions (elastic, inelastic, perfectly inelastic)
6. Center of Mass Reference frame
7. Motion of Rocket
1. THE CENTER OF MASS

System of two particles in one dimension.

Two point masses, m1 and m2, have coordinates x1 and x2 on the x axis
The center-of-mass coordinate xcm is defined by:

m1 x1 + m2 x2
xcm =
m1 + m2

- if the particles have equal - If the particles are of unequal mass,

masses, the center of mass the center of mass is closer to the more
is midway between them massive particle
We can generalize from two particles in one dimension
to a system of n particles in three dimensions.

m1 x1 + m2 x2 + ... + mi xi + mn xn åm x i i
xcm = = i

xcm =
m1 x1 + m2 x2 m1 + m2 + ... + mi + ... + mn åm i
i

m1 + m2
m y + m2 y2 + ... + mi yi + mn yn åm y i i
ycm = 1 1 = i
m2
m1 + m2 + ... + mi + ... + mn åm i
i

m1 mn
z
CM m1 z1 + m2 z 2 + ... + mi zi + mn z n åm z i i
zcm = = i

r1
rcm m1 + m2 + ... + mi + ... + mn åm i
ri mi i

! ! ! ! !
O y ri = x i i + yi j + zi k
! å mi ri
! ! ! ! rcm = i

åm
x
rcm = x cm i + ycm j + zcmk i
i
 !
å mi ri ! !
Mrcm = å mi ri
m2
!
m1 mn rcm = i
z
CM åm i
i
i
rcm
r1 Total mass
M = åm
ri mi
of the
i
system
y i
O
x
ri is the position vector of the ith particle.

rCM is the position vector of the CM.

åm x i i åm y i i åm z i i
xcm = i
; ycm = i
; zcm = i

åm i
i åm i
i åm i
i
 To Find the center of mass of a continuous object
- Divide the object to have an element of mass dm.
- Posision vector of dm is r
- we replace the sum with an integral

! !
! å ii
m r ò r dm
dm rCM = i
=
(m)
z
åm ò dm
! i
i
(m)
r CM åm x i i ò xdm ò ydm ò zdm
! xCM = i
=
(m)
; yCM =
(m)
; zCM =
(m)

rCM åm i
i ò dm ò dm ò dm
O y
(m) (m) (m)

x
Example 8-1 Find the center of mass of a water molecule 1u=1.66×10−27 kg

H2O=2H+O
åm x i i
mO xO + mH 1 xH 1 + mH 2 xH 2
xCM = i
=
åm i
i mO + mH 1 + mH 2

By symmetry, the
center of mass is => yCM = 0
on the x axis

Coordinates of Oxy, Hydrogen 1 and Hydrogen 2:

xO = 0
Oxy (0,0)
xH 1 = xH 2 = 9.6nmcos52.2° = 5.9nm
H1 (dcos52,2o; dsin52.2o)
H2 (dcos52,2o; -dsin52.2o); 1u ´ 5.9nm + 1u ´ 5.9nm + 16u ´ 0
x cm =
d = 9.6nm 1u + 1u + 16u
= 0.66nm
Another way:
- Finding the center of mass of just the two
hydrogen atoms. the two H atoms replaced by a
single particle of mass m1 + m2 = 2u on the x axis
at the center of mass of the original atoms.
- The center of mass then falls between the
oxygen atom at the origin and the calculated
center of mass of the two hydrogen atoms.

Calculate centers of mass for more complex

systems, such as two uniform sticks.

The center of mass of each stick separately is at

the center of the stick.

The center of mass of the system is found by

treating each stick as a point particle at its
individual center of mass.
2. Motion of the Center of Mass
! !
1. The position vector of the center of Mrcm = å mi ri (1)
mass !
i
!
2. We differentiate (1) to have the drcm dri
M = å mi
velocity of the center of mass dt i dt
3. We differentiate (2) to have the ! !
Mvcm = å mi vi (2)
acceleration of the center of mass i
4. According to Newton's second law: ! !
Macm = å mi ai (3)
where Fi the net force acting on the i
ith particle
5. Forces acting on a particle fall into ! !
two categories:
miai = Fi
- internal forces due to interactions ! ! !
!
with other particles within the F i= mi ai = Fi,int + Fi,ext (4)
system,
- and external forces due to agents
outside the system: ! !
!
6. Substitute (4) into(3): Macm = å Fi,int + å Fi,ext (5)
i i
 Motion of the Center of Mass (cont.)
! ! !
7. According to Newton's third law, for Macm = å Fi,int + å Fi,ext (5)
each internal force acting on one i i
particle, there is an equal but
opposite force acting on another
particle. The internal forces thus
occur in pairs of equal and opposite
forces. When we sum over all the !
particles in the system, the internal å Fi,int = 0
forces cancel i

7. Thus, the center of mass of a system

moves like a particle of mass M = Σmi ! !
under the influence of the net Macm = å Fi,ext (6)
external force acting on the system. i
 3. Conservation of Momentum
! !
1. The momentum of a particle is p = mv
defined as the product of its mass
and velocity:
! ! ! !
2. The total momentum of a system of P = å pi = å mi vi = Mvcm
many particles is the sum of the
i i
momenta of particles, and equals
the total mass M times the velocity
of the center of mass: ! !
dP dvcm !
=M = Macm
3. Differentiating this equation with dt dt
respect to time, we obtain !
dP !
= Fnet _ ext
4. When the net external force acting dt
on a system of particles is zero, the
rate of change of the total !
momentum is zero, and the total
Fnet _ ext = 0
momentum of the system remains !
dP !
constant: = 0 => P = const
dt
Conservation of Momentum in one direction
!
1. If the external force is not zero, dP !
the momentum of the system is = Fnet ,ext ¹ 0
not conserved dt

2. but the x-component of the

dPx
external force is zero Fx=0, the Fx = 0 => =0
x-component of the momentum dt
of the sytem is conserved => Px = const
px=const
Conservation of
Momentum in one
direction
 4. Kinetic Energy of a System
1. The kinetic energy of a particles
is the sum of the kinetic energies
1 1 ! !
of the individual particles: K = å Ki = å mi vi2 = å mi (vi .vi )(1)
2. The velocity of each particle can
i i 2 i 2
be written as the sum of the
! ! !
velocity of the center of mass, v i / ground = v i / CM + v CM / ground
and the velocity of the particle ! ! !
relative to the center of mass, : v i = u i + v CM
1 ! ! 1 ! " ! "
3. K becomes K = å mi ( vi .vi ) = å mi ( vcm + u i )(vcm + u i .)
i 2 i 2
1 !2 1 ! ! !
4. ucm is the velocity of the center of = å mi vcm + å mi u i2 + vcm .å mi u i .
i 2 i 2 i
mass relative to the center of
! !
mass, ucmis zero
å m i u i . = Mu cm
5. The kinetic energy of the system i
equals KE of the CM plus KE of
1 !2 1 ! 1 !2
particles relative to CM K = Mvcm + å mi u i2 = Mvcm + K rel
2 i 2 2
 5. Collision
- In a collision, two objects approach and interact strongly for a very
short time.
- During the brief time of collision, any external forces are much smaller
than the forces of interaction between the objects.
Fext_net=0
!
- Momentum of the system is conserved dP ! !
= Fnet _ ext = 0 => P = const
dt

Classification:
- elastic collision (total kinetic energy is conserved)
- Inelastic collision (total kinetic energy is not conserved)
- perfectly inelastic collisions (after collision, 2 objects stick together and
have the same velocity)
 6a. Elastic collision
v1 v2 V’1 V’2
m1 m2 m1 m2

Before collsion After collision

! ! ! !
• Conservation of momentum: m1v1 + m2 v2 = m1v '1 + m2 v '2 (1)
! ! ! !
m1 (v1 - v '1 ) = m2 (v '2 -v2 ) (2)
1 !2 1 !2 1 ! 2 1 ! 2
• For elastic collisions, m1v1 + m2 v2 = m1v1¢ + m2 v2¢ (3)
conservation of kinetic 2 2 2 2
energies !2 !2 !2 !
m1 (v1 - v1¢ ) = m2 (v2¢ - v22 ) (4)
! ! ! !
• Eq(6) The relative velocity of v1 + v '1 = v '2 +v2 (5)
two particles before and after ! ! ! !
(v1 - v2 ) = -(v '1 -v '2 ) (6)
collision has the same
magnitude ! !
! (m1 - m2 )v1 + 2m2v2
v1¢ =
• From(2) and (6) , the velocity of m1 + m2
the two particles after collision ! !
! (m2 - m1 )v2 + 2m1v1
v2¢ =
m1 + m2
 6b. Perfectly Inelastic Collisions in One Dimension

v2 V
v1 m2
m1 m2 m1

Before collsion
After collsion

• Conservation of momentum: ! ! !
m1v1 + m2 v2 = (m1 + m2 )V (1)

• After collision, two objects stick ! m1v!1 + m2 v!2

V= (2)
together, and has the same velocity m1 + m2
 6c. The coefficient of restitution
• The coefficient of restitution, e, ! !
is a measure of the elasticity of
v2¢ - v1¢
a collision.
• It is defined as the ratio of the e= ! !
relative speed after collision to
the relative speed before
v2 - v1
collision
• For an elastic collision, e = 1;
• For a perfectly inelastic collision,
e=0