Group Members: ________________________________________________________________

Activity 1: Momentum, Impulse and Collision.

Engineering Connection

Sports engineering is becoming a popular specialty field of study. While some engineers dedicate their research to understanding collisions
between balls and bats, others study the effects of a golf ball colliding with the head of a golf club. And, mechanical engineers consider momentum
and collisions when designing vehicles. Learning how the human body and equipment interacts with the ball during impact or how the human body
interacts with the inside of a car during a crash, helps engineers design better sports equipment and safer vehicles.

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

 Understand that momentum depends on both mass and velocity.

 Recognize that different surfaces and materials promote different types of collisions.
 Collect data to solve equations.
 Learn that understanding material properties is an important aspect of engineering design

Materials List
Each group needs:

 3 different balls (suggestions: ping-pong ball, tennis ball, racquetball, golf ball, baseball, super ball, clay, billiards ball)
 3 different bouncing surfaces (suggestions: tile floor, linoleum floor, carpeted floor, wooden block, cinder block)
 kilogram or gram scale
 meter stick

Procedure

1. Determine the mass in kilograms of each ball and record it on the data sheet.
2. Drop each ball from a distance of 1 meter onto the surface (3X) and record how high it bounces in meters (example: 0.46 meters).
3. Note whether the ball and surface showed more of an elastic or inelastic collision.
If the ball bounces up more than .5 meters, then it is more elastic.
If it bounces up less than .5 meters, then it is more inelastic.
4. Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 for the two other surfaces.
5. Calculate the velocity for each ball right before it bounces (question 2) and right after it bounces (question 3).
6. Calculate the momentum for each ball right before it bounces (question 4) and right after (question 5).
7. Calculate the percentage of momentum lost for each case (question 6).
8. Answer the Further Learning questions on the worksheet based on your answer.

Data : Ball Types:

Ball 1:__________________________ Surface 1: _____________ Surface 1: _______________ Surface 3:________________

Ball 2:__________________________ Surface 1:______________ Surface 2:________________ Surface 3: ________________

Ball 3:__________________________ Surface 3: ______________ Surface 2:________________ Surface 3:________________

1. Based on the Height of the bounce for each ball, is the collision more elastic or inelastic? Fill in the table
accordingly.
Ball A : Mass: _________

Trial Surface1 Bounce Elastic or Surface 2 Bounce Elastic Surface 3 Bounce Elastic
Height Inelastic Height or Height or
Inelastic Inelastic
1
2
3 Commented [S1]:
Ball Mass: _____
1
 2
3
Ball C
1
2
3

2. Calculate the velocity of each ball right before it hits the surface (V1).

3. Calculate the velocity of each ball right after it hits the surface (V2).

4. Calculate the momentum of each ball before it hits the surface (Starting Momentum).

5. Calculate the momentum of each ball after it hits the surface (Ending Momentum).
6. 6. Calculate the change in momentum and the percentage of momentum that was lost for each case.
Case Starting Ending Starting Ending Change in Percent of
Velocity Velocity Momentum Momentum Momentum Momentum Lost
(m/s) (m/s) (kg*m)/s (kg*m)/s (kg*m)/s

7. Why did all of the balls lose momentum? What happened to the momentum that was lost?

8. What would have happened if the collisions were perfectly elastic? Use your own words or calculations to help
explain your answer.