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    Lab 5 SA

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    Jonathan Shao
    1) The experiment observed elastic collisions between steel and aluminum balls using a pendulum device and video analysis to track ball trajectories. 2) Analysis of on-center and off-center collisions using the pendulum showed momentum was transferred consistent with conservation of momentum. 3) Video analysis of collisions between balls of equal mass found momentum was conserved but kinetic energy decreased, indicating an inelastic collision.

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    Lab 5 SA

    Uploaded by

    Jonathan Shao
    38 views1 page
    1) The experiment observed elastic collisions between steel and aluminum balls using a pendulum device and video analysis to track ball trajectories. 2) Analysis of on-center and off-center collisions using the pendulum showed momentum was transferred consistent with conservation of momentum. 3) Video analysis of collisions between balls of equal mass found momentum was conserved but kinetic energy decreased, indicating an inelastic collision.

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    Physics laboratory on collisions

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    1) The experiment observed elastic collisions between steel and aluminum balls using a pendulum device and video analysis to track ball trajectories. 2) Analysis of on-center and off-center collisions using the pendulum showed momentum was transferred consistent with conservation of momentum. 3) Video analysis of collisions between balls of equal mass found momentum was conserved but kinetic energy decreased, indicating an inelastic collision.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    38 views1 page

    Lab 5 SA

    Uploaded by

    Jonathan Shao
    1) The experiment observed elastic collisions between steel and aluminum balls using a pendulum device and video analysis to track ball trajectories. 2) Analysis of on-center and off-center collisions using the pendulum showed momentum was transferred consistent with conservation of momentum. 3) Video analysis of collisions between balls of equal mass found momentum was conserved but kinetic energy decreased, indicating an inelastic collision.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 1

    Jonathan Shao PHYS 165 L

    Partner: Kevin Hwang Friday Section


    10/02/2015 TA: Han Aung
    Summary and Afterthoughts:
    The experiment was primarily used to introduce the behavior of momentum and kinetic
    energy in elastic collisions. In Collisions, we used a balls of steel and aluminum to observe
    collisions qualitatively as well as two videos of previously filmed collisions to gather
    quantitative data by using LoggerPro.
    The first part consisted of investigating elastic collisions in one dimension in which a
    moving object struck a stationary target. Using a pendulum-like contraption, two metal balls of
    equal or different masses were hung with equal length strings and one was launched at the other.
    We observed both off-center collisions where the projectile ball hits the target ball to the right of
    the center and on-center collisions where the projectile ball hits the very center of the target ball.
    In the on-center collisions, the movement was restricted to only the x-axis. Momentum from the
    projectile ball was transferred to the target ball while the projectile ball remained stationary post-
    collision. In the off-center collisions, some of the momentum of the collision for both masses was
    diverted to the y-axis movement. Due to the law of conservation of momentum, the y-axis
    movement cancelled out as each directional component is conserved.
    Next we observed a video in which a metal ball collided into another metal of equal mass
    and tracked the trajectory of the balls using LoggerPro. After graphing both the X-axis and Y-
    axis ball movement separately, we were able to use the velocities and the mass of the balls to
    calculate momentum and conclude that the momentum in each direction was conserved as the
    initial and final momentums overlap within the uncertainty ranges. However, when kinetic
    energy was calculated, there was a significant drop indicating that the collision was inelastic.
    In two other cases, we examined if having a projectile with higher or lower mass than the
    target would affect momentum and kinetic energy. Watching another provided video comprising
    of those two cases, we tracked the trajectory of the balls using LoggerPro and graphed the X and
    Y components separately. From the graphs, we again used the mass and velocity to determine
    final and initial momentum to find that it was conserved. However, in the x-direction of the
    m1>m2 case, the calculation of momentum indicated that it was not conserved, possibly due to
    problems with hand-eye coordination while clicking or the selection of frames that were
    unrepresentative of the balls true trajectory. Like the previous case, final kinetic energy also
    decreased compared to initial, demonstrating the fact that energy can be converted to another
    form of energy such as potential energy or heat but the sum of all energy including kinetic energy
    is the same before and after the collision.
    This experiment was very insightful as it showed how a fundamental law of physics such
    as the law of conservation of momentum may not always be reflected exactly in an empirical
    setting, where there may be many discrepancies. Also, we saw how the selection of frames in the
    trajectory of an object is crucial in constructing a representative graph and generating values to
    quantitatively describe the objects movement. On a theoretical level, both momentum and
    energy should have been conserved in an expected elastic collision; however, although the
    collision and the resulting ball movement appeared to be elastic, calculations of velocity
    indicated that even momentum was not conserved. More strikingly, the post-collision kinetic
    energy was distinctly diminished compared to the pre-collision kinetic energy; on an
    experimental level, this makes sense, because we are reminded that energy of the system is
    assuredly lost to the environment in the form of sound and heat from friction.

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