Lab 11: Impulse-Momentum Theorem 10/13

Purpose

In this lab, we wanted to test if the impulse-momentum theorem is true - that impulse is equal to the momentum.

Procedure + Lab Equipment

What we used:

• track
• cart
• clay + nail
• the clay was placed on a wooden block and the nail on the force sensor - this was for the inelastic collision
• logger pro 
• force sensor + motion sensor

What we did:
Part 1 - Elastic Collision (bouncing)

1. on one end of the track, a spring was placed at the end 
2. at the other was the motion sensor
3. the force sensor was attached to one end of the cart
4. the cart with the force sensor is then weighed
5. the force sensor was calibrated and then placed on the cart
6. data was collected as the cart is pushed into the spring
7. this is repeated with an additional mass on the cart

Part 2 - Inelastic Collions

1.  the same as part one, except the spring is changed with clay
2. a nail is attached to the end of the force sensor

Data

Part 1 -Elastic Collision

This is the data for the cart

This is the data for the cart with an additional mass

 Part 2 - Inelastic Collision

This is the data for when the cart collides with the clay

Calculations + Data Analysis

Using the equations of momentum, we were able to calculate the momentum of the cart and compare it to the impulse of the cart.

Conclusion

We found that the theorem is true....