Physics › Section F · Momentum and collisions › Topic F.5
Collisions in two dimensions
Pool balls glance off at angles and cars meet at crossroads, so real collisions rarely stay on one line. Conserving momentum separately along two perpendicular axes turns each one into a pair of one-dimensional problems, and reveals why identical billiard balls so often fly apart at a right angle.
In this topic
- Off the straight line
- Conserve each component separately
- Choosing the axes
- Worked example: a crash at a junction
- Worked example: a glancing blow on an air table
- Equal masses, elastic, target at rest
- Why the angle is 90°
- Worked example: a cut shot in pool
- Momentum as a detective
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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