| Exam Board | Edexcel |
|---|---|
| Module | M4 (Mechanics 4) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Session | June |
| Marks | 11 |
| Paper | Download PDF ↗ |
| Mark scheme | Download PDF ↗ |
| Topic | Oblique and successive collisions |
| Type | Oblique collision, direction deflected given angle |
| Difficulty | Challenging +1.2 This is an oblique collision problem requiring application of conservation of momentum along the line of centers, Newton's experimental law for restitution, and geometric reasoning to relate the 30° deflection to the impact geometry. While it involves multiple steps and careful vector decomposition, it's a standard M4 mechanics problem following well-established procedures without requiring novel insight—moderately above average difficulty for A-level. |
| Spec | 6.03k Newton's experimental law: direct impact6.03l Newton's law: oblique impacts |
2.
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A smooth uniform sphere $P$ is at rest on a smooth horizontal plane, when it is struck by an identical sphere $Q$ moving on the plane. Immediately before the impact, the line of motion of the centre of $Q$ is tangential to the sphere $P$, as shown in Fig. 1. The direction of motion of $Q$ is turned through $30 ^ { \circ }$ by the impact.
Find the coefficient of restitution between the spheres.\\
\hfill \mbox{\textit{Edexcel M4 2004 Q2 [11]}}