Reduced mass of a two-body system¶
Reduced mass is effective inertial mass in a system with two or more particles when they are interacting with each other. This allowes the two-body problem to be solved as if it were a one-body problem.
Links:
- Symbol:
mu
- Latex:
\(\mu\)
- Dimension:
mass
- Symbol:
m1
- Latex:
\(m_{1}\)
- Dimension:
mass
- Symbol:
m2
- Latex:
\(m_{2}\)
- Dimension:
mass
- law¶
mu = 1 / (1 / m1 + 1 / m2)
- Latex:
- \[\mu = \frac{1}{\frac{1}{m_1} + \frac{1}{m_2}}\]