DustinTheWind Posted June 21, 2010 Report Posted June 21, 2010 I'm not sure exactly what you said that we should consider, this doesn't really make it clear. Do you agree that, at each reflection, overall momentum is conserved? I still don't see how these differences in length and time will give a [imath]\Delta p[/imath] in the long run. The position and velocity of the box will jitter around a bit but, if you count the total of balls and box, and if you agree momentum is conserved at each impact, it doesn't really get anywhere. Well It was just a hypothesis really. But I was thinking if all the collisions happened primarily in the forward direction 1st there should be a constant forward momentum. Quote
Qfwfq Posted June 22, 2010 Report Posted June 22, 2010 I was thinking if all the collisions happened primarily in the forward direction 1st there should be a constant forward momentum.Certainly! If the thermal agitation of atoms and molecules in a brick went primarily in one way, the brick would definitely go shooting off from where it was. Quote
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