Up until now I was using coefficient of restitution $e$ for 1D collisions easily,but now in 2D collisions $e$ is only applied along the normal direction to the collision,and not in the tangential direction of the collision.Why is this happening?
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$\begingroup$ Which is the direction of the velocity that is mostly reversed? $\endgroup$– naturallyInconsistentCommented Aug 6 at 16:17
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1$\begingroup$ because the collision is towards the normal direction $\endgroup$– EliCommented Aug 6 at 16:28
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1 Answer
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The "coefficient of restitution" approach to collisions is an approximate way to describe a more complicated material interaction (refer to "Hertz Contact Theory" for additional info). Most high school and undergraduate courses only deal with a single coefficient because it is a simple way to learn the concept, even though it is an over-simplification. But there are actually other more advanced ways to describe collision dynamics, including at least one way that uses two coefficients - one normal and one tangential.
For more details, see "A New Algebraic Rigid Body Collision Law Based On Impulse Space Considerations" by Chatterjee and Ruina.
http://ruina.tam.cornell.edu/research/topics/collision_mechanics/new_algebraic_rigid_body.pdf
