VideoPoint

Tips:
Sample in-class activity

(9.13.1 momentum conservation in two dimensions)

Fig. (1): Three screen shots of the movie PRU021. MOV as the pucks move in and out of a collision.

Students capture video images of three bodies colliding in a complex way on an air atable in instances where the air pucks do not touch the walls of the air table. They then find the X and Y components of the centers of mass of the system and graph them as a function of time on a n overlay plot. Following is a sample Excel spreadsheet and graph done using the data collected from the movie PRU021.MOV.

Fig. (2): This video frame shows trails of the movement of the pucks.

Table (1): The time and position data from the movie PRU021.MOV was transfered to an Excel Spreadsheet and analyzed.

Graph (1): This graph shows the motion of the pucks as they move in and out of the collision.

Student can analyze this data and calculate things such as the velocity of the centers of mass, as well as learn about momentum conservation.

<<Return to Tips Page

Subscribe | Comments | Contact Us