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"
Distribution function (physics) Distribution function (physics) In molecular kinetic theory in physics, a particle's distribution function is a function of seven variables, formula_1, which gives the number of particles per unit volume in single-particle phase space. It is the number of particles per unit volume having approximately the velocity formula_2 near the position formula_3 and time formula_4. The usual normalization of the distribution function is where, "N" is the total number of particles, and "n" is the number density of particles – the number of particles per unit volume, or the density divided by the mass of individual particles. A distribution function may