College Physics with MasteringPhysics 7th Edition by Jerry Wilson,Anthony Buffa,Bo Lou

Exercise 102

A comet approaches the Sun as illustrated in Fig. and is deflected by the Sun's gravitational attraction. This event is considered a collision, and b is called the impact parameter. Find the distance of closest approach ( d ) in terms of the impact parameter and the velocities ( v o at large distances and v at closest approach). Assume that the radius of the Sun is negligible compared to d. (As the figure shows, the tail of a comet always "points" away from the Sun.)

FIGURE A comet "collision" See Exercise.