Classical Mechanics — Week 9: Collision Theory

Art: Reinier Vinkeles / Pieter Pietersz Barbiers II, De zaal der physica van Felix Meritis, 1794 · Public domain

About this course

Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 8.01SC Classical Mechanics, Fall 2016, Prof. Deepto Chakrabarty, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Dr. Michelle Tomasik, Prof. Anna Frebel, Prof. Vladan Vuletic — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: this unit's sessions in MIT's listing order. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 22, 2026. How RedLectern is built.

Instructors: Prof. Deepto Chakrabarty, Dr. Peter Dourmashkin, Dr. Michelle Tomasik, Prof. Anna Frebel, Prof. Vladan Vuletic
Term: Fall 2016
Level: Undergraduate
What's inside: 17 videos · 1 problem set
Materials open: Videos here · files on MIT OCW

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Start course: Week 9 Introduction Find a topic

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Grouped by section, as MIT organized them. Not sequenced or ordered.

Problem Set 9

8.01 Classical Mechanics Pset 9PDF Download

Classical Mechanics — Week 9: Collision Theory

Materials by section

Problem Set 9

Week 9 Introduction

26.1 Momentum in Collisions

26.2 Kinetic Energy in Collisions

26.3 Totally Inelastic Collisions

27.1 Worked Example: Elastic 1D Collision

27.2 Relative Velocity in 1D

27.3 Kinetic Energy and Momentum Equation

27.4 Worked Example: Elastic 1D Collision Again

27.5 Worked Example - Gravitational Slingshot

27.6 2D Collisions

DD.2.1 Position in the CM Frame

DD.2.2 Relative Velocity is Independent of Reference Frame

DD.2.3 1D Elastic Collision Velocities in CM Frame

DD.2.4 Worked Example: 1D Elastic Collision in CM

DD.2.5 Kinetic Energy in Different Reference Frames

DD.2.6 Kinetic Energy in the CM Frame

DD.2.7 Change in the Kinetic Energy