Lab 4, Work-Energy and Momentum

Cuong Nguyen
Section 12
September 26, 2014

Abstract

For this lab, we observe the change in kinetic energies and momenta of two carts
before and after their collision in two cases - with Velcro and with a plunger.

Procedure

The experimental equipments include two carts, two motion detectors and a
track. The motion detectors are placed at the two ends, facing the middle of
the track. One of the cart, called cart A, is loaded with mass and the other,
called cart B, is not. Initially, cart A is placed 20 cm in front of the motion
detector on the left and cart B is in the center of the track. In the first case, one
of the carts is placed such that its Veclro is faced with each other. Then, cart
A is given a momentary push toward cart B and the velocity data is acquired.
In second case, the procedure is the same except for that the plunger of the one
of the two carts is headed to the other.

3
3.1

Data
Collision with Velcro

The following figures show the collected velocity of the two carts before and
after the collision with Velcro. We can see the sudden change in velocity during
the collision between time 2s and 2.4s. The two carts are stick together so that
their speed is very close to each other after the collision.

Figure 1: Graph of velocity in respect with time of the two carts in the collision
with Velcro. The x-component of velocity of cart A and B is measured before
the collision to be 0.3404 m/s and 0 m/s respectively

Figure 2: Graph of velocity in respect with time of the two carts in the collision
with Velcro. The x-component of velocity of cart A and B is measured after the
collision to be 0.0823 m/s and 0.0848 m/s respectively.
Note: The velocity of cart B is measured by the motion detector on the
right, so the signed is reversed to comply with direction of the motion detector
on the left.

3.2

Collision with plunger

The following figures show the collected velocity of the two carts before and after
the collision with plunger. We can see the sudden change in velocity during the
collision between time 1.8s and 2s.

Figure 3: Graph of velocity in respect with time of the two carts in the collision
with plunger. The x-component of velocity of cart A and B is measured before
the collision to be 0.3840 m/s and 0 m/s respectively

Figure 4: Graph of velocity in respect with time of the two carts in the collision
with the plunger. The x-component of velocity of cart A and B is measured
after the collision to be 0.0015 m/s and 0.1701 m/s respectively.

Discussion

Next, we calculate the kinetic energies and momenta of the two carts based on
the acquired data and see if the final results (showed in Table 1) comply with the
Work-Energy Theorem and the Law of Conservation of Momentum.

(a) Cart A is at constant velocity. Cart B is at

rest

(b) Two cart colliding

Figure 5: Free-body diagrams of two carts on a frictionless surface in two situations.

The Work-Energy theorem states that the work done on an object is
equal to the change in its kinetic energy:
Z

WAB =

F~ d~r = KB KA

The Law of Conservation of Momentum states that the total momentum in a closed system is constant.
n
X

p~i = p~1 + p~2 + p~3 + + p~n = const

i=1

Table 1: Kinetic energies and momenta calculated from acquired data.

In Table 1, the data pair pA and pB of the experiment with the plunger
should be equal and opposite. This statement is consistent to the free-body
diagrams in Figure 5. The reason is that the force F~BA in the diagram is
opposite to the velocity va so it reduces the momentum of cart A. At the same
time, the force F~AB acting on cart B increases the momentum of cart B. These
two changes should be equal but in opposite direction. The empirical data in
Table 1 also supports this argument (pA = 0.1928 and pB = 0.1735).
The discrepancy between two value exists due to the fact that the track is not
perfectly frictionless.
In the two experiments, the value K/Ki are very different. In the case
with Velcro, the collision is highly inelastic because the two carts are stick
together after the collision. Therefore, a larger amount of kinetic energy is
lost. On the other hand, the collision with plunger is near elastic if there is
no friction, so the loss in kinetic energy is smaller. In both cases, the lost
energy is converted into heat and sound. The work done on the two carts is the
remaining of the kinetic energy in cart A before collision. This work is equal
to the change in kinetic energy of the two carts. The values P/Pi in both
experiment remain approximately the same because in any cases, the Law of
Conservation of Momentum is unchanged.