Wednesday, 10/8: Collisions

Today we looked at three collisions of carts on an air track. Before each demo, we drew a "before" diagram and a predicted "after" diagram. Then we watched the collision and drew what actually happened. The notes at the end show only the actual before and after diagrams.

Collision 1: Two carts of equal mass collide elastically. Cart one (m1) has some initial velocity to the right. Cart two (m2) is initially at rest. What will happen?


Collision 2: Two carts of equal mass collide elastically. Cart one (m1) has some initial velocity to the right. Cart two (m2) has a greater initial velocity to the left. What will happen?


Collision 3: Two carts of unequal mass collide inelastically. Cart one (m1) has some initial velocity to the right. Cart two (m2) is initially at rest. What will happen?


Here are the notes. Click to enlarge.