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LECTURE 6
     goals and outline

lecture title

    Conservation of Momentum: Descartes and Huygens

lecture goals

  • Understand why we define quantities of motion which include not only velocity but also mass.
  • Learn to analyse a few simple collisions.
  • Learn our first conservation law: total momentum is the same after a collision as before.
  • Understand simple examples of the above.

outline of lecture

    1. Quantity of Motion with Direction

    2. Conservation of Momentum

    3. Examples

    4. Descartes, Huygens

quote

Nature seems to take advantage of the simple mathematical representations of the symmetry laws. When one pauses to consider the elegance and the beautiful perfection of the mathematical reasoning involved and contrast it with the complex and far-reaching physical consequences, a deep sense of respect for the power of the symmetry laws never fails to develop.

-- C. N. Yang, 1957 Nobel Prize Lecture

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Please email any questions, comments, or suggestions to Professor Bernice Durand, bdurand@theory3.physics.wisc.edu.

Revised September 11, 1997.


Content © 1997, Bernice Durand
Images and layout © 1997, Shane Hamilton