Simulating Conservation of Momentum

Use the PhET collision simulation at:

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/collision-lab/latest/collision-lab_all.html.
Objective:
- Study the types of collision.
- Measure the linear momentum and kinetic energy

Before you start:

● Turn elasticity down to zero
● Click “more data” to allow you to enter in values for the mass and velocity.
● For each question, fill out the table with values extracted from the question. Use
these to fill in the data on the app.

1) A ball travelling at 2m/s with a mass of 0.5kg collides with a stationary ball of 1kg, and they
stick together. What is the momentum before and after the collision?

Mass (.....) Velocity before Velocity after Momentum Momentum

collision (......) collision (.......) before (..........) after(........)

Ball 1

Ball 2
Both balls

2) What do you notice? What do we call this concept?

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3) What is the unit of momentum? ………………………...

4) How fast must a 0.3kg ball be moving to have a momentum of 2.1kg.m/s?

Mass Velocity Momentum

Ball 1
5) A 0.66kg ball travelling at 0.4 m/s collides with a ball of 0.33kg, and they stick together...
a) What is the total momentum after the collision?
b) How fast will the two balls (which are now stuck together) be moving after the collision?

Mass (kg) Velocity before Velocity after Momentum Momentum after

collision (m/s) collision (m/s) before (kg.m/s) (kg.m/s)

Ball 1

Ball 2

Both balls

6) What happens to the momentum of a 1kg ball if it collides head on with a 2kg ball coming the
other way with an equal and opposite velocity?

Mass (kg) Velocity before Velocity after Momentum Momentum after

collision (m/s) collision (m/s) before (kg.m/s) (kg.m/s)

Ball 1

Ball 2
Both balls

7) If a ball of 3kg is chasing a ball of 0.75kg and the momentum of each ball is 0.3kgm/s and
0.15kgm/s respectively, will the first ball ever catch the second ball?

Mass (kg) Velocity before Velocity after Momentum Momentum after

collision (m/s) collision (m/s) before (kg.m/s) (kg.m/s)

Ball 1

Ball 2
Both balls
8) What is the difference between elastic and inelastic collision?

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9) Two balls, each with mass 2 kg, and velocities of 2 m/s and 3 m/s collide head on. Their
final velocities are 2 m/s and 1 m/s, respectively. Is this collision elastic or inelastic?

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CONCLUSIONS: