Impulse and Momentum

Purpose:

In this lab we are trying to find the impulse that was exerted onto the cart as a result of an elastic collision. Since the impulse is the change in momentum, we can use the force exerted during the collision and the velocity before and after to calculate this

Experiment:

 We will be using two carts to for this experiment. In the first part we held one cart on a pole, while the other cart was fitted with a force sensor and given a push towards the other cart where they would collide elastically. Below is a picture of the setup from the POV of the motion sensor.

Here is the graph of the data that was collected for the force, position and time. The middle graph shows the carts position as it approaches and then collides with the other cart. The top graph shows the force exerted by the cart. If we integrate this graph, we can find the momentum of the cart during the collision which was -0.4053 N/s. We got a negative value because we did not reverse the direction of the position sensor but in our own calculation we got a value of -0.397N/s

The next part of this lab, we had a volunteer who was willing take a few hits from the cart with a force sensor in the spirit of physics. So this time, instead of an elastic collision, we will have a totally inelastic collision. We will be recording the same data as before.

Here is a graph of our data which shows the cart did not return after the collision. Since the cart doesn't return, momentum is not conserved and the full brunt of the force is taken by our brave volunteer. Momentum for the collision was recorded to be -0.3136 N/s