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Lab
Gage Ames
Zack Armagost, Em DeLarme, Skylar Buriak, Megan Kephart,
Kristen Day, and Lauren Thomson
Physics - Period 2
Purpose
To find the force and velocity of objects during a collision and use these
measurement to calculate the momentum change and verify the law of conservation of
momentum.
Background Information
The Law of Conservation of Momentum states that the momentum of a system
remains unchanged in the absence of external forces. A good demonstration of this
principle exists in collisions. When collisions occur, the momentum of the system as a
whole remains the same. Momentum is transferred from one of the objects to the other.
How much momentum is transferred and how it is transferred changes with the type of
collision.
The two main types of collisions are elastic and inelastic. In an elastic collision
the objects bounce off of each other after the collision. They therefore do not travel as
one object, but as two individual objects. Inelastic collisions are just the opposite: the
objects become tangled and move together after the collision. The two individual
moving objects turn into one moving object.
Dynamics track
Dynamics carts
Mass for cart
Vernier LabPro with USB cable
Two photogates
Force sensor (50 N range)
Laptop computer with Vernier Logger-Pro software
Electronic balance.
Setup
Photogate 1
Dynamics cart
Photogate 2
Force sensor
cable
plugged into
CH 1
Photogate in
DIG/SONIC 1
Laptop
Force
probe
USB cable to
computer
Vernier
LabPro
Procedural Summary
In this lab we used photogates and a force probe along with a computer to record
the velocities and times of dynamic carts during different collisions. We used a force
probe and a photogate to gather information used to calculate impulses. Then we used
two photogates to record the velocities and times of the dynamic carts during different
collisions with each other.
Data
Part 1
Trail
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
Mass of
cart
Mean
force
Time at
collision
end
2.3851 s
Velocity
before
collision
0.249 m/s
Velocity after
collision
9.013 N
Time at
collision
start
2.3662 s
518.5 g
518.5 g
11.16 N
2.0995 s
2.1226 s
0.363 m/s
0.170 m/s
518.5 g
14.36 N
1.8990 s
1.9171 s
0.376 m/s
0.170 m/s
518.5 g
3.325 N
1.3955 s
1.4518 s
0.262 m/s
0.111 m/s
518.5 g
4.670 N
1.9238 s
1.9752 s
0.297 m/s
0.134 m/s
518.5 g
9.132 N
1.8208 s
1.8538 s
0.388 m/s
0.186 m/s
0.102 m/s
Part 2
Trial #
Cart 1 mass
cart 1 vi
cart 1 vf
Cart 2 mass
cart 2 vi
cart 2 vf
518.7 g
3.103 m/s
2.270 m/s
518.0 g
2.590 m/s
2.755 m/s
1017.0 g
1.188 m/s
0.822 m/s
517.7 g
0.0 m/s
5.205 m/s
517.0 g
2.619 m/s
0.888 m/s
1017.7 g
0.0 m/s
1.629 m/s
Trial #
Cart 1 mass
cart 1 vi
Cart 2 mass
cart 2 vi
vboth final
517.0 g
3.058 m/s
517.7 g
2.389 m/s
0.289 m/s
1017.0 g
3.195 m/s
517.7 g
0.0 m/s
1.919 m/s
517.0 g
5.042 m/s
1017.7 g
0.0 m/s
1.469 m/s
Calculations
Part 1
Trial #
Impulse (J)
2.3851 s 2.3663 s =
0.0189 s
0.0189 s * 9.013 N =
0.1703457 J
0.2764 kg*m/s
0.257796 J
0.2831 kg*m/s
0.259916 J
0.1934 kg*m/s
0.1871975 J
0.2235 kg*m/s
0.240038 J
0.2976 kg*m/s
0.301356 J
Part 2
Trial
2
3
Trial
cart 1
pbefore
cart 2
pbefore
Total
pbefore
cart 1 pafter
cart 2 pafter
Total pafter
0.5187
kg *
3.103
m/s =
1.60952
61
kg*m/s
1.20819
6 kg*m/s
0.5180 kg
* 2.590
m/s =
1.34162
kg*m/s
1.609526
1 kg*m/s
1.34162
kg*m/s =
0.267906
1 kg*m/s
0.5187 kg
* 2.270
m/s =
1.177449
kg*m/s
0.5180 kg
* 2.755
m/s =
1.42709
kg*m/s
0 kg*m/s
1.208196
kg*m/s
0.835974
kg*m/s
2.694628
5 kg*m/s
1.177449
kg*m/s +
1.42709
kg*m/s =
0.249641
kg*m/s
1.858654
5 kg*m/s
1.35402
3 kg*m/s
0 kg*m/s
1.354023
kg*m/s
0.459096
kg*m/s
1.657833
3 kg*m/s
1.198737
kg*m/s
cart 1
pbefore
cart 2
pbefore
Total
pbefore
both pafter
Total pafter
1.58098
6 kg*m/s
0.342007
kg*m/s
0.2990283
kg*m/s
0.299028
3 kg*m/s
3.24931
5 kg*m/s
2.60671
4 kg*m/s
1.236785
3 kg*m/s
0 kg*m/s
3.249315
kg*m/s
2.606714
kg*m/s
2.9450893
kg*m/s
2.2544743
kg*m/s
2.945089
3 kg*m/s
2.254474
3 kg*m/s
0 kg*m/s
Graphs
Part 1, Trial 1
Part 1, Trial 2
Part 1, Trial 3
Part 1, Trial 4
Part 1, Trial 5
Part 1, Trial 6
Error Analysis
The error in this lab likely came from the fact that friction had some effect on the
movement of the carts on the track. The friction would have decreased the velocities of
the carts. This means that the momentums of the carts were not completely conserved
due to the presence of friction. Further proof of this is that when the weights were
added to the cart, the error seemed to increase. This makes sense because the more
massive an object it, the more friction it will experience. This caused our velocities to
decrease even more and yield slightly skewed results. Another source of error is the
human perception of the graphs. While the Logger Pro software did the calculations,
we had to select the area for it to calculate. We may have selected an area slightly
smaller or larger than was correct. This would not produce an extremely large amount
of error, but it does make the results less than perfect.
Part 1
Trial #
Percent Error
(0.1820 kg*m/s +
0.1703457 J)/(
0.1703457 J) = 6.84 %
7.22 %
8.92 %
3.31 %
6.89 %
1.25 %
Part 2
Trial
Error
0.155286 kg*m/s
0.0451724 kg*m/s
0.3042257 kg*m/s
0.3522397 kg*m/s