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Activity 5 - Conservation of Linear Momentum
Activity 5 - Conservation of Linear Momentum
___________________________________________________________________________
Student Name: __________________________________ Group No.: ___________
Objectives:
1) To study the types of Collision in one dimension between two balls by using PHET
Simulation.
2) To determine the kinetic Energy and the linear momentum of each ball before and after
the collision.
3) To conclude the main difference between the elastic collision and the inelastic collision.
d Ṕ
The general formula of Newton’s Second Law is F́ ext = where F´ext is the external
dt
force acting on the object, Ṕ is the linear momentum of the object and t is the time, when the
external force equal to zero the linear momentum becomes constant because dP=0, so the
linear momentum is conserved regardless to the type of collision.
2) Click on
more
data to
see more
options.
1
3) Select (Elasticity 100%) by dragging the blue triangle (Δ) to the right) to the right
4) Select: m1=m2 = 2kg
5) Select: *position 1 (1m) and *position 2 (2m)
6) Select: *v1i=2.00m/s and *v2i=0 as shown below:
Step 3
Steps: 4 5 6
7) This collision will take place between red ball (m1) and green ball (m2) of the equal
masses (m1=m2=2kg), with (m2) initially at rest (v2i=0). The red ball (m1) will collide (m2)
and essentially stops, then (m2) will move in the same direction of (m1) before collision.
8) Click on Play, then after collision Pause.
9) Record the values of v1f and v2f after collision in table 1.
10) Calculate the values of Pi, Pf, Pf/Pi, Ki, Kf and Kf/Ki and record them in table 1.
Table 1
11) Repeat the experiment for two different values of v1i (2.50 m/s) and (3.00 m/s), keep v2i =
0 and repeat the steps 8 to 10 and record the values into table 1.
2
Part 1: Elastic Collision – b (m1≠m2):
1) Use the same link from PHET Colorado Simulation.
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/collision-lab/collision-lab_en.html
2) KEEP: (Elasticity 100%) by dragging the blue triangle (Δ) to the right) to the right
3) Select: m1 = 3kg and m2 = 2kg
4) KEEP: *position 1 (1m) and *position 2 (2m)
5) Select: *v1i=2.00m/s and *v2i=0.5m/s
6) Click on
Play, then after collision Pause.
7) Record the values of v1f and v2f after collision into tables 2 & 3.
8) Calculate the values of Pi, Pf, Pf/Pi, Ki, Kf and Kf/Ki and record them into tables 2 & 3.
9) Repeat the experiment for other three different values of v1i and v2i as mentioned in the
tables 2 & 3, and record the values into tables 2 & 3.
Table 2
2.00 0.50
2.50 0.75
3.00 1.00
4.00 1.25
3
Table 3
2.50 0.75
3.00 1.00
4.00 1.25
Step 2
Steps : 3 4 5
4
Table 4
Table 5
2- Conclusion:
This Lab activity is adapted from the Department of Applied Physics , College of
Sciences, University of Sharjah