Two balls in, two balls out.
Why can two arriving balls send two balls away?
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Why can two arriving balls send two balls away?
Fit the components before testing.
In an ideal equal-mass cradle, contact impulses transfer both momentum and kinetic energy. One incoming ball sends one away; two send two. Optional loss represents energy transferred to the supports between cycles, not an extra source of momentum.
Five equal balls, instantaneous ideal exchange at contact; finite-sized pendulum bobs. Damping is an external support loss after the ideal impulse. Small-angle playback time is illustrative.
Transfer two balls with momentum and energy conserved.
Transfer momentum and energy between equal balls.