Geometric diagrams for head-on elastic collisions between particles in one-dimensional motion from the history of physics are presented and they are extended to cover inelastic one-dimensional impacts and series of impacts. Other diagrams for collisions between bodies in linear motion where momentum is transferred by sliding frictional contact are also described. The similarity between the structure of the two types of diagrams reveals the common underlying processes of momentum transfer between bodies, whilst overall being conserved, and the dissipation or conservation of energy. The differences between the diagrams reflects the different mechanisms of momentum transfer. By composing the two types of diagrams into a new diagram two-dimensional collisions are modelled. The diagrams probide visualizations of the collisions that allow limiting cases, special situations, underlying regularities and symmetries to be examined. A computer based learning environment has been built for a subset of the diagrams and empirical evaluations of the system has demonstrated that the diagrams can enhance learning about this domain.
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