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    Conservation of Momentum Lab Report

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    1. An experiment was conducted to measure the conservation of momentum during an inelastic collision between a toy car and airsoft bullet. Mass and velocity measurements were taken before and after the collision using photogates and a track. 2. The bullet was fired from a nerf gun at the back of the toy car, causing them to stick together due to velcro. Photogates measured the individual and combined velocities, while masses were measured with a scale. 3. Calculations showed the total momentum was conserved before and after the collision, though some experiments had errors up to 30% likely due to friction and imperfect transfer of the bullet's momentum. The results supported the hypothesis that momentum remains constant during an inelastic

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    Conservation of Momentum Lab Report

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    1. An experiment was conducted to measure the conservation of momentum during an inelastic collision between a toy car and airsoft bullet. Mass and velocity measurements were taken before and after the collision using photogates and a track. 2. The bullet was fired from a nerf gun at the back of the toy car, causing them to stick together due to velcro. Photogates measured the individual and combined velocities, while masses were measured with a scale. 3. Calculations showed the total momentum was conserved before and after the collision, though some experiments had errors up to 30% likely due to friction and imperfect transfer of the bullet's momentum. The results supported the hypothesis that momentum remains constant during an inelastic

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    1. An experiment was conducted to measure the conservation of momentum during an inelastic collision between a toy car and airsoft bullet. Mass and velocity measurements were taken before and after the collision using photogates and a track. 2. The bullet was fired from a nerf gun at the back of the toy car, causing them to stick together due to velcro. Photogates measured the individual and combined velocities, while masses were measured with a scale. 3. Calculations showed the total momentum was conserved before and after the collision, though some experiments had errors up to 30% likely due to friction and imperfect transfer of the bullet's momentum. The results supported the hypothesis that momentum remains constant during an inelastic

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    2K views7 pages

    Conservation of Momentum Lab Report

    Uploaded by

    api-320805695
    1. An experiment was conducted to measure the conservation of momentum during an inelastic collision between a toy car and airsoft bullet. Mass and velocity measurements were taken before and after the collision using photogates and a track. 2. The bullet was fired from a nerf gun at the back of the toy car, causing them to stick together due to velcro. Photogates measured the individual and combined velocities, while masses were measured with a scale. 3. Calculations showed the total momentum was conserved before and after the collision, though some experiments had errors up to 30% likely due to friction and imperfect transfer of the bullet's momentum. The results supported the hypothesis that momentum remains constant during an inelastic

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    The key takeaways are that momentum is conserved in an inelastic collision, and small differences in momentum before and after are due to experimental errors.

    The equipment used in the experiment included a nerf gun, nerf bullet, two photogates with a reader, a toy car, car track, velcro strips, an index card, scissors, and tape.

    Momentum was measured in the experiment by measuring the mass of the objects involved and calculating their velocity before and after collision using the change in distance and time recorded by the photogates.

    Conservation of Momentum Within an Inelastic Experiment

    Using the Impulsifier to Collide a Bullet and a Car


    Introduction
    Momentum is found in most every scenario that involves movement or
    change. Just like energy, momentum is conserved never created or destroyed. It
    transfers through different, in and out of systems of the world; momentum will
    never deplete or come to a loss, as it is constant. By creating an inelastic collision
    with combining a toy car and an air-soft bullet (Refer to Photo A), every variable is
    needed to be measured to prove the hypothesis that momentum will remain
    constant from the initial set up to after the collision takes place.

    Procedure
    To perform this inelastic experiment, one will need the following equipment: a
    nerf gun, nerf bullet, 2 working photogrates with a reader, a toy car, car track, 3x3
    velcro strips, an index card, along with scissors and tape. The main idea of this lab
    is to collect data from the bullet striking the back end of the car and sticking
    together. In order to get the bullet and car to stick, place one square of velcro on
    each of the objects. To measure the speed of the objects, a strip of the index card
    will be hanging off of the bullet and the car for the photogates to register. Now take
    the car with the velcro and paper strip, set a balance scale to 0, and measure in
    grams. Repeat for the bullet with the velcro and paper strip. It is important to keep
    all variables constant, and to use the same equipment (which means the same
    masses) every time.
    Photo A

    For the set up, the gun will be placed on one side of the setup, and the car
    will be towards the end. Place all objects at the specific measurements as Photo B
    suggests. To begin, turn on the photograte reader, and be sure both gates are on (a
    red light will illuminate when plugged in). Reset any previous times on the reader.

    Have one person pull back the lever on the gun. With steady hands, pull the trigger
    to shoot the bullet. The bullet should shoot through the first photogate and land on
    the back of the car, sticking because of the velcro. The car, before was unmoving,
    should now move foward. Allow for the objects to stop on their own; this should not
    take long. At last, trial one has been completed. 30 trials should be completed in
    total, but before moving on to reset the equipment, it is important to not forget to
    record the results.
    Photo B

    From the trial, the time in seconds representing the speed of the bullet has
    been collected. To view this, simply look at the number on the photogate reader.
    The time has also been recorded for the car and bullet together. The other
    measurement acquired was the change in distance, which can be seen using the
    meter stick. Record all data.

    Data and Observations


    During the experiment, the bullet shoots towards the car with a popping
    sound from the gun, almost too fast to see. It lands onto the back of the car, and

    immediately the car goes rolling down the flat track, eventually coming to a
    complete stop again. The time of both speeds are very fast, though the bullet is
    consistently faster than the car and bullet combination. There is a visible difference
    in these speeds, and for every trial, this trend remains constant. When the car rolls
    after the collision, the track hardly shakes. Each experiment saw the same general
    trends, producing precise results.

    Measurements
    Object / Equipment

    Mass (g)

    Bullet (with Velcro and Paper)

    1.7

    Car (with Velcro and Paper)

    34.6

    Car and Bullet Combination

    36.3

    Experiment 1
    Trial #

    Time of Photogate A Bullet (Seconds)

    Time of Photogate B Car and Bullet


    (Seconds)

    Change in
    Distance (cm)

    1 .0012

    .0343

    23.5

    2 .0017

    .0313

    24

    3 .0012

    .0333

    25

    4 .0019

    .0343

    22.5

    5 .0015

    .0336

    22

    6 .0015

    .0339

    22

    7 .0015

    .0325

    24.5

    8 .0013

    .0335

    22.5

    9 .0015

    .0342

    27.5

    10 .0014

    .0302

    24

    .03311

    23.75

    Average: .00146

    Experiment 2

    Trial #

    Time of Photogate A Bullet (Seconds)

    Time of Photogate B Car and Bullet


    (Seconds)

    Change in
    Distance (cm)

    1 .0011

    .0420

    19

    2 .0014

    .0373

    22.5

    3 .0010

    .0374

    21

    4 .0005

    .0358

    21

    5 .0010

    .0298

    24.5

    6 .0011

    .0294

    23.5

    7 .0008

    .0246

    26

    8 .0009

    .0288

    20

    9 .0010

    .0336

    21

    10 .0015

    .0185

    17

    .03172

    21.55

    Average: .00103

    Experiment 3
    Trial #

    Time of Photogate A Bullet (Seconds)

    Time of Photogate B Car and Bullet


    (Seconds)

    Change in
    Distance (cm)

    1 .0061

    .0390

    14

    2 .0048

    .0318

    21

    3 .0061

    .0382

    20

    4 .0061

    .0369

    24

    5 .0064

    .0313

    18

    6 .0062

    .0347

    19

    7 .0069

    .0315

    18

    8 .0065

    .0283

    21

    9 .0063

    .0358

    17

    10 .0047
    Average: .00601

    .0214

    26

    .03289

    19.8

    Calculations and Analysis


    To prove momentum is conserved in an inelastic collision, an inelastic
    collision set-up is replicated as demonstrated above. The variables needed to be
    measured include the of mass of objects involved (toy car with Velcro, bullet with
    Velcro) and the velocity of those objects before and after the collision. This
    equation, MaVa + MbVb = MaVa + MbVb , represents the mass and velocities of
    two objects, A and B. As momentum is defined as The quantity of motion of a
    moving body, measured as a mass of its mass and velocity, the equation solves for
    momentum. This can be broken down int Momentum = MV. However in the lab, the
    masses were measured before hand, but we did not measure velocity. This is
    because that is immeasurable using the setup produced; V = (change in X)/t. Both
    delta X and the time in seconds were measured, which will solve for velocity, and be
    applied in the conservation of momentum equation. In theory, the calculated
    momentum before and after the collision should be equal to each other to prove
    that in this inelastic collision, momentum was conserved. To understand if the data
    given agrees, one can calculate percent error, which is the Initial (Value - Final
    Value)/Final Value.
    Experiment 1
    Va = (.2375 m)/(.00146 s) = 162.67 m/s
    Vb = (.2375 m )/(.03311 s) = 7.17 m/s
    Momentum Before:
    Bullet = (.0017 kg)(209.22 m/s) = .276539 mkg/s
    Car = (.0346 kg)(0 m/s) = 0 mkg/s
    Total = .276539 mkg/s
    Momentum After:
    Car and Bullet combination = (.0363 kg)(7.17 m/s) = .260271
    mkg/s
    Initial and Final Momentum Comparisons
    .276539 mkg/s = .260271 mkg/s

    -5.88 % error

    Experiment 2
    Va = (.2155 m)/(.00103 s) = 209.22 m/s
    Vb = (.2155 m)/(.03172 s) = 6.79 m/s
    Momentum Before:
    Bullet = (.0017 kg)(209.22 m/s) = .35567 mkg/s
    Car = (.0346 kg)(0 m/s) = 0 mkg/s
    Total = .35567 mkg/s
    Momentum After:
    Car and Bullet combination = (.0363 kg)(6.79 m/s) = .246477
    mkg/s
    Initial and Final Momentum Comparisons
    .35567 mkg/s = .218526 mkg/s
    -30.7% error

    Experiment 3
    Va = (.198 m)/(.00601 s) = 32.94 m/s
    Vb = (.198 m)/(.03289 s) = 6.02 m/s
    Momentum Before:
    Bullet = (.0017 kg)(32.94 m/s) = .055998 mkg/s
    Car = (.0346 kg)(0 m/s) = 0 mkg/s
    Total = .055998 mkg/s
    Momentum After:
    Car and Bullet combination = (.0363 kg)(6.02 m/s) = .218526
    mkg/s
    Initial and Final Momentum Comparisons

    .055998 mkg/s = .218526 mkg/s


    290% error

    Conclusion
    The calculated momentum before and after an inelastic collision is indeed
    conserved. Though momentum do not completely equal, such as in experiment 1
    with .276539 mkg/s = .260271 mkg/s , the small differences is taken in account by
    the -5.88% error. The negative is due to the system having less momentum after
    the collision, since it loses some. The small loss of .01628 mkg/s however is
    completely logical, due to experimental errors such as friction between the wheels
    and the track, air resistance on the index card strip and velcro, misplacement of
    bullet transferring energy into the track rather than the car itself (due to the angle
    of the gun), and so forth. All of these errors resulted in creating a transfer of
    momentum in other objects than the two being measured. This proves that
    momentum before would be equal to the momentum after, and all would be
    conserved in a perfect system. Newtons third law can even be applied to the
    conservation of momentum, as For every action, there is an equal and opposite
    reaction the size of the forces on the first object equals the size of the force on the
    second object.

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