Work-Energy
and Momentum
Overview
Today you are going to record the speeds of two carts before and after
a collision. You will do this twice, once with one cart with a nearly
elastic plunger extended towards the other cart, and once with
shock-absorbing material placed at the points where they hit each
other. You will calculate the carts’ kinetic energies and momenta
and observe how they change.
There are three parts to this experiment. Part I concerns theory, Part
II, data collection, and Part III, analysis. Ideally, you have tried
Part I before arriving in lab so that you will have plenty of time to
complete the worksheet. If not, start with
Part II. Collect the data for Question 3 and the yellow boxes of
Question 4, then return to Part I.
Far and near views of today’s equipment and example
data.
Part I
Part II
Part III
Worksheet
Index