[HN Gopher] The Physics of Colliding Balls
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       The Physics of Colliding Balls
        
       Author : vha3
       Score  : 62 points
       Date   : 2024-09-27 12:41 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (vanhunteradams.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (vanhunteradams.com)
        
       | sebtron wrote:
       | If you are interested in this topic, the author of pooltool[1], a
       | billiards simulator, has a nice blog series about it [2].
       | 
       | [1] https://github.com/ekiefl/pooltool
       | 
       | [2] https://ekiefl.github.io/projects/pooltool/
        
         | amelius wrote:
         | And here is a video of a robot playing pool:
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS6k0fcniH0
        
         | kazinator wrote:
         | This material deals with spin, unlike the article.
        
           | ginko wrote:
           | It also has illustrations, unlike the article.
        
       | kazinator wrote:
       | Unfortunately, this writeup doesn't mention any words like "spin"
       | or "rotation" or "angular", not even to disclaim that those
       | aspects are not presently being addressed. It looks like a great
       | resource for kids in grade 11 or 12 physics.
        
         | _Microft wrote:
         | The intended audience is the author himself.
         | 
         | Edit: You're reading his notes/summary of the topic. Basically
         | what he's understood so far. _"Expository webpages - For my own
         | future reference. Intended audience is myself."_ , see
         | https://vanhunteradams.com/#Expository-webpages
        
           | playingalong wrote:
           | Chances are the author is in 11th or 12th grade. And you two
           | might be on the same page.
           | 
           | (Just joking).
        
         | contravariant wrote:
         | Since it also doesn't mention friction I'm a bit confused what
         | effect, if any, you were expecting to see.
         | 
         | Dealing with friction complicates matters _significantly_. At
         | the very least you can 't expect the collision to be elastic.
        
       | kookamamie wrote:
       | A very nice article. I noticed a small typo: "resitution".
        
       | TheRealPomax wrote:
       | While rare events, it would be lovely if this also included notes
       | on how to deal with "more than two balls" simultaneous contact
       | cases.
        
       | IanKerr wrote:
       | For an interesting exploration of how even the simple physics of
       | two blocks hitting one another can lead to surprising
       | conclusions, I'd highly recommend this 3Blue1Brown video called
       | "Why do colliding blocks compute pi?":
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsYwFizhncE
        
         | phkahler wrote:
         | >> Why do colliding blocks compute pi?
         | 
         | A lot of times with math I don't think the word "why" should be
         | used. Those blocks computing pi was a good example where they
         | "proved _that_ they compute pi ", but not really _why_. What is
         | the real distinction I 'm trying to make here and how to
         | explain it?
        
       | anthk wrote:
       | Koules was cool.
        
       | angry_moose wrote:
       | Also see the (somewhat legendary) "Perfectly centered break of a
       | perfectly aligned pool ball rack" answer:
       | 
       | https://mathoverflow.net/a/156407
       | 
       | (updated link to original, not the repost)
        
       | chkas wrote:
       | I have programmed a small simulation of colliding balls in 2D.
       | 
       | https://easylang.online/show/#cod=jVPbbptAEH3frzhSpMqJFYppI0...
        
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       (page generated 2024-09-30 23:02 UTC)