PHYSIC 181 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Ballistic Pendulum, Inelastic Collision, Parabolic Trajectory
6 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
The ballistic pendulum and the conservation of momentum in one. In this experiment we seek to verify the conservation of momentum in an inelastic collision. We will do this by making independent measurements that allow us to calculate the momentum before and after the collision. We will determine the momentum before the collision by using the distance travelled along the parabolic trajectory that results from the acceleration due to gravity to determine the initial velocity and hence momentum. The final momentum will be determined using the conservation of energy. If there are no external forces acting on an object in motion newton tells us that it will keep going at an unchanged velocity. This is equivalent to the conservation of momentum. Unless something acts on an object to change its momentum that momentum is a constant. As a consequence any system of masses that is isolated from external forces will have a net momentum which is conserved.
