Variable-mass system events. The following derivation is for a body that is gaining mass (accretion). A body of time-varying mass "m" moves at a velocity v at an initial time "t". In the same instant, a particle of mass dm moves with velocity u. The initial momentum can be written as Now at a time "t" + d"t", let both the main body and the particle accrete into a body of velocity v + dv. Thus the new momentum of the system can be written as Since d"m"dv is the product of two small values, it can be ignored, meaning during d"t"
Delta-v (physics) Delta-v (physics) Delta comes as the 4th letter in the greek alphabets which is spell as 'D' in the english alphabets . In general physics, delta-"v" is simply a change in velocity. The Greek uppercase letter delta is the standard mathematical symbol to represent change in some quantity. Depending on the situation, delta-"v" can be either a spatial vector (Δv) or scalar (Δ"v"). In either case it is equal to the acceleration (vector or scalar) integrated over time: If acceleration is constant, the change in velocity can thus be expressed as: where: Change in velocity is useful in many cases,