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Re: [Phys-L] TWO QUESTIONS

On Friday, April 1, 2016 3:33 PM, Carl Mungan <mungan@usna.edu> wrote:



Suppose our Sun is hit by a star of equal mass, traveling in the opposite direction.

Relative to what: the center of the Milky Way? In other words, what initial speed of the Sun are you supposing?

  Actually, the initial question is a little bit ambiguous, since it does not specify the initial speeds of the Sun and the oncoming star. Hence Carl Mungan's question is quite appropriate. But even if both initial velocities are given (say, relative to the center of our galaxy), I think, the most convenient way for solution would be to switch to the reference frame in which the net momentum of the system (Sun+oncoming star) is zero (unless this had also been assumed from the very beginning).
Moses FayngoldNJIT 
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