Problem 58778. Count collisions in an idealized block system

Created by ChrisR

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Two blocks, which have masses  and , slide along a frictionless, semi-infinite track bounded by a stationary wall. Initially block 2 is not moving, and block 1 moves to the left with speed . All of the collisions are elastic. 
Write a function to count the collisions between the two blocks and block 2 and the wall. For example, if the blocks each have mass of 1 kg and block 1 initially moves to the left at 0.5 m/s, there will be three collisions: the initial collision, a collision between block 2 and the wall, and a final collision between the blocks. 

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Last Solution submitted on Feb 29, 2024

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Dyuman Joshi on 23 Jul 2023

Chris, I was just thinking of posting this problem, after something popped up in my social media feed awhile ago. But you beat me to it haha!

ChrisR on 24 Jul 2023

I bet I know what you saw! It was fascinating.

Dyuman Joshi on 25 Jul 2023

It was!

Christian Schröder on 6 Aug 2023

Fascinating, indeed --- and I should thank you both for the pointer, since without this problem and your preceding comments, I wouldn't have seen that "something"!

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Problem 58778. Count collisions in an idealized block system

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Last 200 Solutions

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Problem 58778. Count collisions in an idealized block system

Solution Stats

Last 200 Solutions

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Solution Comments

Problem Recent Solvers6

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