CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Physics211 / Section 13- 18375

Inelastic Collisions

Prepared by:
Nader Aldosseri
John Capps
Travaughn Montgomery
Rodney Pujada
Performance Date: Thursday, February 18, 2016
Submission Due: Thursday, February 25, 2016
Professor: Yese J. Felipe
Thursday: 1:30 pm. 4:00 p.m.

January 2016

Experiment No 7:
I.

II.

Inelastic Collisions

PURPOSE
The purpose of this experiment is to reproduce a simple experiment
demonstrating the conservation of linear momentum.

INTRODUCTION

The momentum p of an object is the product of its mass and its velocity:
p = mv
Momentum is a vector quantity, since it comes from velocity (a vector) multiplied by
mass (a scalar). The law of conservation of momentum states that the total
momentum of all bodies within an isolated system,
ptotal = p1 + p2 + .......,
is constant. That is, if the total momentum has some initial value pi, then, whatever
happens later, the final value of the total momentum pf must equal the initial value.
So we can write the law of conservation of momentum like this:
pf = p i
Conservation of momentum is usually studied in problems that involve collisions. In
this experiment, youll look at collisions between two gliders on an air track. You will
measure the final momentum of an initially stationary glider, struck by another glider
which is initially moving. Youll do this experiment for two different types of collisions,
elastic and inelastic. Elastic collisions are ones where kinetic energy is conserved (the
objects bounce off each other without losing any energy). Inelastic collisions (e.g., if
the objects get stuck together) do not conserve kinetic energy. The kinetic energy of
an object is defined as

where m is the objects mass and v is its velocity. Kinetic energy is not a vector: its a
scalar, andits units are Joules (J).
http://physics4abalewis.blogspot.com/2012/12/inelastic-collisions-lab.html

III.

DATA AND ANALYSIS

3.1 Tabulate the data for Case I in our air track equipment.
Table No 1: Case I constant mass and variable force
3.2 Graph No 1: Case I constant mass and variable force

3.3 Tabulate the data for Case II in our air track equipment.
Table No 1: Case II constant force and variablemass

Graph No 2 : Case Il Constant force and variable mass .

3.4. Calculate the percent of error from Graph No 1 and No 2

From the formula

% Difference =| ( Ac practical Ac theorycal) | x 100 %

Formula No 2
Ac theorycal

Using the formula No 2 to evaluate percent of error

The linear fit to the Force vs Acceleration data can be rewritten as:
F net (N) = 0.0751 Kg * a (m/s2) + 0.3345
This gave a graphical value for the system mass of m2 = 0.0751 kg. The
measured system mass obtained using the double pan balance was m2 =
0.4607 kg 0.0002 kg. These values were compared using percent difference:

% Difference = (0.0751 - 0.4607) x 100 % = -6 %

(0.0751 - 0.4607)/2

IV.

% Difference
-0.02 %
Results

Using the data obtained through our air track trials, we then calculated exactly
how much initial momentum and kinetic energy; final momentum and kinetic
energy; and how much percent of kinetic energy was lost through these
collisions. To calculate momentum we used the equation pi=pf which expands
to m1v1,i+m2v2,i=m1v1,f+m2v2,f . We substituted our numbers obtained
through the experiment into the left side of the equation to get our pi and the
right side to get our pf. Since these two values are very close (for example,
Collision 1: pi=0.078 kg*m/s & pf= 0.072 kg*m/s), we can say that our first
hypothesis was accepted. Collisions 3 and 4 showed significant loss in
momentum which probably ensued from the use of clay . Had we used Velcro
Ibelieve the two values would have been very close. Next we used the
equations KEi=1/2m1v12 and KEf= 1/2m2v22 to find the KEi, KEf, and the %
lost. We substituted our numbers obtained through the experiment into the
equations and found out that KE is conserved in elastic equations but not in
perfectly inelastic equations (65% and 90 % decrease in KE in an inelastic,
compared to 6% and 14% in an elastic collision), supporting our second
hypothesis. We noticed, however, that there were still small amounts of KE lost
during the elastic collisions. This is most likely due to friction, because the air
track did not completely remove it. There could also have been some
calculation errors
which would lead to inaccurate data as well.
V.
Conclusions
Through this experiment we were able to successfully prove our two hypotheses: that
momentum is conserved, and that kinetic energy is only conserved in elastic
collisions. Again, there were some slight discrepancies which happened due to small
amounts of friction and the use of clay instead of Velcro. There could have been
miscalculations also. Doing experiments like this could have valuable applications in
places like the auto industry, in which they need this data to test for safety. Although
not used in this lab, the
impulse equation could be used to better enhance the safety of vehicles. The more
time during the collision, the less force felt on the passengers. This experiment gave
me a greater understanding of collisions and facilitated performing these calculations.
VII References
Department of Physics and Astronomy (Editionn1.1,University Bookstore
Custom Publising, pp. 4-9
http://www.santarosa.edu/~lwillia2/41/40samplelab1.pdf