LXXXVI.Impact of spheres of soft metals

Abstract

In the first part of this paper the duration of contact during collision, of two equal spheres of the same material, is investigated with a ballistic pendulum, employing the partial discharge of a condenser to measure the duration. For aluminium, tin, brass, babbitt, and a lead-tin alloy, a law of the form t = t ₀ + a/vⁿ is obtained, where v is the relative velocity at impact, t ₀, a, and n are constants. Zinc follows a similar law, but the constants cannot be accurately determined.