2-Dimensional Momentum Lab

Bethany, Stephanie, Carla and Cesare pose for a photo! (Anything to get on the website or did I offer them extra credit? I forget!) Hi Matt!

One steel ball is rolled down a ramp and makes a glancing, elastic collision with an identical ball which starts at rest. Always drop the first ball from the same height!

Run the A-ball first with no collision and see how far it travels. This distance when divided by time will give us the initial velocity of A before the collision with the B-ball. The black line from the plumb bob to the black circle will also be the diameter of our circle! The carbon paper will help mark where A and B land after the collision.

Each student in the lab group (usually 3 or 4 per group) will use the same initial momentum (mv) of the A-ball. However, adjust the B-ball so that each student will measure a different angle collision. The matching colors here show the A and B ball landings for 4 students.

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