Physics of Pool :: Sport Sports Billiard Billiards

When most of us go out to play pool we do not realize how much physics effects ourgame. If we took the time to understand at least the basic physics of pool it might beamazing to what stage we could improve our skills. Most of us already know at leastsomewhat the general idea of how to play pool well. Below I allow give abrief description of how physics plays a part in improving you game of pool. So read onif you care to happen upon your fellow pool players -Basic Momentum & Kinetic EnergyFor the purpose of billiards we will not go into great detail as to what momentumis. Basically though it backside be thought of using the following equationp = mvwhere p = momentumm = pickle of objectv = speed of objectKinetic energy is energy associated with the motion of an object. For basic purposeswe can just look at the following equation which relates kinetic energy with massand velocity of an object.K = mv2where K = kinetic energyWhen you strike another ball with the actuate ball it is almost a perfect tensile collision.An elastic collision is one in which total kinetic energy as well as total momentumare conserved within the system. This can be shown by the two basic equations Conservation of Kinetic Energy m1v1i2 + m2v2i2 = m1v1f2 + m2v2f2Conservation of Momentum m1v1i + m2v2i = m1v1f + m2v2fwhere m = mass of objectv = velocitySince the cue ball has virtually the same mass as the other balls and the velocity ofour second ball will always be zero, since we are striking a static ball with the cueball. In addition this is considered a two- dimensional collision. From this we knowthat momentum is saved within the y component and within the x component.Therefore in the case of pool we can rewrite these two equations as Conservation of Kinetic Energy m1v1i2 = m1v1f2 + m2v2f2Conservation of Momentum m1v1i = m1v1f cos lettuce+ m2v2f cos0 = m1v1f sin - m2v2f sinIn this last equation the minus sign comes from the fact after the collision ball twohas a y component of ve locity in the downward direction from the x-axis. This canbe seen in the following diagram.The above diagrams show the initial velocity (both x and y directions) of both balls(Vxi &Vyi) as well as the final velocities (Vxf & Vyf). As we can see Vxi = Vxf (totalof red and blue balls) as well as Vyi = Vyf.