Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 9 views

    Exp. 10 Procedure

    Uploaded by

    FatRoot
    The document describes an experiment to demonstrate conservation of momentum through inelastic collisions between two carts on an air track. It outlines objectives, theory on momentum conservation, the experimental setup including equipment, and procedures for collecting data on the carts' velocities before and after collision. Analysis will check if total initial and final momentum are equal, verifying conservation of momentum.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Exp. 10 Procedure

    Uploaded by

    FatRoot
    9 views3 pages
    The document describes an experiment to demonstrate conservation of momentum through inelastic collisions between two carts on an air track. It outlines objectives, theory on momentum conservation, the experimental setup including equipment, and procedures for collecting data on the carts' velocities before and after collision. Analysis will check if total initial and final momentum are equal, verifying conservation of momentum.

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document describes an experiment to demonstrate conservation of momentum through inelastic collisions between two carts on an air track. It outlines objectives, theory on momentum conservation, the experimental setup including equipment, and procedures for collecting data on the carts' velocities before and after collision. Analysis will check if total initial and final momentum are equal, verifying conservation of momentum.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    9 views3 pages

    Exp. 10 Procedure

    Uploaded by

    FatRoot
    The document describes an experiment to demonstrate conservation of momentum through inelastic collisions between two carts on an air track. It outlines objectives, theory on momentum conservation, the experimental setup including equipment, and procedures for collecting data on the carts' velocities before and after collision. Analysis will check if total initial and final momentum are equal, verifying conservation of momentum.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 3

    The Conservation of Momentum

    Objectives

    1. To show that during a collision between two objects momentum is conserved.

    2. To design and carry out a physics experiment demonstrating the property of


    conservation of momentum using the tools learned throughout the quarter in
    physics lab.

    Theory

    Physics is often concerned with what are called "conserved" quantities. Mass and
    energy are two examples of quantities that must remain conserved for a closed system,
    that is, they do not change with time. Conservation of a quantity is a clue to a physicist
    that there is some underlying principle to be discovered. Perhaps the oldest and most
    famous conservation principle is the conservation of momentum. This is embodied in
    Newton's First Law, written in 1687. It states that an object in motion will remain in
    motion unless acted upon by a net force.
    There are two special kinds of collisions which are particularly easy to analyze:
    the perfectly elastic and perfectly inelastic collisions. If a moving object collides with
    another object and the total kinetic energy of the two objects does not change - that is, it
    remains the same before and after the collision - then the collision is elastic. If some of
    the kinetic energy of the objects is transformed into heat or other forms of energy, then
    the collision is inelastic. Most collisions encountered in everyday life are inelastic. Notice
    that kinetic energy is only conserved in the special case of elastic collisions. In general,
    kinetic energy is not conserved. However, momentum is always conserved, regardless of
    whether the collision is elastic or inelastic. In this particular experiment we will be
    examining an inelastic collision.

    Experimental setup
    Figure 1 shows the experimental setup to be used. The Airtrack will eliminate much of
    the friction of the moving mass (Aircar). If one or both gliders scrapes against the air
    track during a collision, then there is an external force on the gliders along the direction
    of travel and the momentum of the gliders will not be conserved.
    Figure 1: Experimental Setup

    Procedure

    1. Begin by leveling the Airtrack. Turn on the air supply, gently glace a car on the
    track, and adjust the tracks feet so that the glider remains stationary.

    2. Place two photogates over the track (see Figure 1), about 0.5 m apart and near
    the center of the track. Make certain that the photogates are not obstructing the
    Aircars path and that they are set close enough to be triggered by the cards on the
    cars.

    3. Attach to each car a patch of Velcro approximately 2.0 cm2. Place aircars on the
    Airtrack, one on either side of gate 1, make certain that the sides with Velcro are
    facing one another so that the cars will stick upon collision (see Figure 1).

    4. Prepare the Data Studio to record the times of the Aircars, reset the timer before
    beginning.

    5. Push (gently) Aircar 1 so that it passes through gate 1, collides and sticks to
    aircar 2 and passes through fate 2. Record Δt1 and Δt2.

    6. Repeat previous step five times and record the data for each trial in a well-labeled
    data table.

    7. Find the mass of each Aircar, use this and the initial and final velocities to
    determine the initial and final momenta.

    Calculation

    A. If two objects collide and the only forces on the colliding objects are the forces
    which they exert on each other (no forces from the outside), then the total
    momentum of the two objects is the same before and after the collision. If mass
    m1 has velocity v1 and mass m2 has velocity v2, then we should be able to use the
    conservation of momentum equation M1∙ V1 + M2 ∙ V2 = M F ∙ V F and the weights of the
    Aircars and the average velocity of the data taken earlier to verify if this
    relationship holds true.
    B. Create a graph that compares the momentum initial to the momentum final and
    the slope of this graph should demonstrate that both momentums are equal to one
    another, therefore, momentum is conserved.
    C.

    You might also like