Conservation of Momentum Lab

Jack Smith
Kevin Le
Kassidy Sipprell
Spencer Frenette

Physics 122

Mr. Muise
March 24th, 2014

Objective
Provingconservationofmomentum
Materials
Miniaturecarwithinternalspring,meterstick,timer,golfball

DataTables
Ball Mass
45g

Car Mass
261g

Average

Car speed
before impact
0.585m/s
0.699m/s
0.613m/s
0.532m/s
0.606m/s
0.61m/s

Car speed after

impact
0.463m/s
0.546m/s
0.488m/s
0.463m/s
0.472m/s
0.49m/s

Ball speed after

impact
0.752m/s
0.909m/s
0.735m/s
0.645m/s
0.847m/s
0.78m/s

Average

Car momentum
before impact
0.152682kgm/s
0.182439kgm/s
0.159993kgm/s
0.138852kgm/s
0.158166kgm/s
0.16kgm/s

Car momentum
after impact
0.120843kgm/s
0.142506kgm/s
0.127368kgm/s
0.120843kgm/s
0.123192kgm/s
0.13kgm/s

Ball momentum
after impact
0.033840kgm/s
0.040905kgm/s
0.033075kgm/s
0.029025kgm/s
0.038115kgm/s
0.03kgm/s

Calculations
Todeterminespeedofobject
1/t=v
Where
t=time,inseconds,forobjecttomove1meterintheforwarddirection
v=Speedofobjectinm/s
1m/t=v
1.71secondstomove1meterinforwarddirection
1m/1.71s=0.58479532m/s
T=0.585m/s

Todeterminemomentumofobject
P=mv
Where
P=momentum
m=massofobjectinkg
v=speedofobjectinm/s
P=mv
P=0.261kg*0.585m/s
P=0.152685kgm/s
Todetermineaveragespeedinm/s
v(AVG)= v/n
Where
v(AVG)= average speed in m/s
v= sum of speeds over all trials
n= number of trials
v(AVG)= v/n
v(AVG)= 3.035/5.0
v(AVG)=0.607
v(AVG)= 0.61m/s
Todetermineaveragemomentum
P(AVG)= P/n
Where
P(AVG)= average momentum
P= sum of momentums over all trials
n= number of trials
P(AVG)= P/n
P(AVG)= 0.792132/5
P(AVG)=0.1584264
P(AVG)= 0.16kgm/s

Analyses
Thislabprovedthattheconservationofmomentumdoesexistandcanbeobservedin
realisticenvironmentswithfrictionaswellastheoreticalenvironmentswherefrictionisnota
factor.ThisisshownastheoreticallyPa+Pb=Pa+Pb.Inthislabthistranslatesto0.16kgm/s+
0kgm/s=0.13kgm/s+0.03kgm/s.Thiscanalsobewrittenas0.16kgm/s=0.16kgm/s,whichis
correct.
Sourcesoferrorthatcouldhaveoccurredduringthislabarenumerous.Firstlyishuman
error.Thiscouldoccuratmultiplestagesduringthelab.Forinstance,theindividualwiththe
timercouldstartorstopittosoonortolateintherun,thiswouldcausethetimetoclearameter
tobeoffwhichwouldaffectthespeedandwouldinturnaffectthemomentumoftheobject
beingmeasured.Itisalsopossiblethattheballisnotplacedexactlyatthebeginningofthemeter
stick.Thiswouldcausethetimeittakestoclearthemetertobedifferentwhichwould,inturn,
affectthespeedandmomentumoftheball.
Secondly,theinstrumentsusedcouldcauseerrortooccurindatacollection.Inthecase
ofthemeterstickitispossiblethatitisnotexactlyameterlong,eitherbyfailureofdesignorby
beingdamagedandthuslosingaverysmallamountoftotallength.Thismeansthatevenifthe
timerwereperfectlyspotonfromanobjectbeginningitsmeterruntodeterminetimeandending
itbasedsolelyonthemeterstick,thetimewouldbeslightlyoff.Alsothetimerusedwasonly
abletotrackthetimetoahundredthofasecond,thismeansthatfractionsofsecondswerelost
whichleadstoatimethatmaybefractionsofasecondsoff.
Thesurfacethelabwasconductedonisalsoafactortoconsiderforerror.Thefloor
havingblemishes,aslightinclineordecline,orwasdirty,orothersuchimperfections,allaffect
thecarorballsabilitytomoveacrossitfreely.Theseimperfectionswouldalsovaryslightlyif
thecarorballwasnotplacedexactlywhereithadbeenforprevioustrials.Thismeansthe
frictionofthesurfacewouldvarywhichwouldcausevariousresultsinthefinalvelocityofthe
carandball.Ie.Samesurfaceandsameobjectusingasetforceresultsinspeedsvaryingfrom
0.532m/s0.699m/s.