Sticky Point Masses: A Hybrid System
This applet models two (sticky) masses on a flat frictionless table, as
shown in the figure below.
Each of the masses is attached to a spring with distinct spring constant.
If the balls are not stuck together, they will independently
swing back and forth.
If they collide, they stick together, and swing together depending on
their momentum when they collided.
The stickiness is assumed to exponentially decay with rate
controlled by the parameter "Stickiness Decay."
With reasonable decay values, after a while, the masses will separate.
The plot above shows the positions of the two masses as a function of time.
See the Ptolemy II implementation.