Skip to main content

Snow Day Blog

Inelastic Collision : Conservation of Momentum


Today we went out in the snow to demonstrate the conservation momentum! My brother, Toby, helps to show an perfectly inelastic collision where energy is lost. It is a perfect inelastic collision because he picked me up, so that our two masses come together to have the same final velocity. 


To calculate momentum, I used the equation m1vi1 + m2vi2 = (m1+m2)vf, where m1 was Toby and m2 was me, and vi2 was equal to 0.
To find the masses, I used the conversion factor 1kg = 2.2 lb.
m1=77.73 kg
m2=61.36 kg


Next, I used Logger Pro to figure out what Toby's initial and final velocities were. Because the snow made it hard to move I ended up taking all of the averages of his velocities before 8.7 seconds (the time of the collision) and after the collision to determine a starting and ending velocity. 


You can clearly see the change in velocity that occurs at 8.7 seconds.

Using google sheets to find the sums and averages of the values of velocity before and after 8.7 seconds, it was found that: 

vi1=5.896 m/s
vi2=0 m/s
vf=2.16m/s

Next, I plugged all of these values into the conservation of Kinematic Energy equation (1/2mv^2=1/2mv^2) to find the amount of KE that was lost in the equation.


1/2(77.73)(5.896)^2 = 1/2(77.73+61.36)(2.16)^2
1,351.057 - KE = 324.469
1,026.588 J of KE were lost in this collision.

Also please enjoy my dog jumping on top of me and spraying snow everywhere. That is all. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Physics of Black Holes...Or Lack Thereof

Isabella Jacavone To comprehend how the universe works, we must dwell into the most basic building blocks of existence; matter, energy, space, and time. NASA's  Physics of the Cosmos program involves cosmology, astrophysics, and fundamental physics intended to answer questions about the elusiveness of complex concepts such as black holes, neutron stars, dark energy, and gravitational waves. In this blog post, I'd like to elaborate on a subject that is very intriguing  to me; Black holes. And more specifically, what would happen if we got near one. A black hole is anything but a hole, but rather an immense amount of matter compacted into an extremely small area. A black hole is caused when, hypothetically, a star four times more massive than our sun collapses into a sphere no bigger than 600 square km. To put that in perspective, that's about the size of New York City. B lack holes were predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, which showed that when a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Physics of Sound Dampeners and Active Noise Cancellation

Physics of Sound Dampeners and Active Noise Cancellation Sound dampening foam panels in a recording studio. ANC headphones worn by pilots and/or passengers in consumer aviation aircraft.  Acoustic treatment of soundscapes has grown alongside the sound production industry. Whether through absorption panels, diffusors and cloud panels to treat a space or headphones placed directly over the ears of listeners, acoustic treatment comes in many forms. Environments are treated acoustically to absorb excess sound to prevent sound levels from crossing a threshold above which the desired goal cannot be had. Before getting into sound dampening, we must discuss sound. Sound is produced when an object vibrates (a form of oscillation) and temporarily displaces nearby air molecules causing a wave effect as the displaced molecules collide with their neighboring molecules. Sound waves are fluctuations in pressure as the initial displacement of molecules experiences collisions that in ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aerodynamics of a Golf Ball

One may wonder how a small golf ball can travel at incredibly high speeds for such long distances.  While the swing of the club is a major component, the structure of the golf ball is quite important.  Unlike a baseball or tennis ball, a golf ball has dimples all over it (usually 336 dimples).  These dimples allow the golf ball to travel without facing much air resistance.  This diagram shows how air travels around the golf ball. The dimples on the golf ball also prevent drag that would occur in the wake region, resulting in further distance.  Also due to the contact with the club during the swing, the golf ball has backspin during its entire flight.  This diagram shows the motion of the golf ball mid flight with the lift force of F. There are hundreds of different types of golf balls that a player can choose.  Some show little affect to a player's game while others can alter their performance completely.  Personally, I prefer Callaway Supers...
Post a Comment
Read more