We started off into semester two by learning about momentum. Momentum is defined as inertia in motion. It is calculated by multiplying mass and velocity. Momentum is always conserved, which is a tricky thing to understand. Even if your masses are completely different, like a tennis ball colliding with a windshield on a car, the momentum of both things are the same. The starting and ending velocities will be drastically different, but the momentum that they are going at has to equal out.
Momentum in equals momentum out. So say the tennis ball is B and the windshield (+car) is P.
MbVbo + MpVpo = MbVb + MpVp
We also learned about impulse. Impulse is the average force upon the object multiplied by the time the force is acting on the object. Impulse is also change in momentum of the object. By applying what we just learned about momentum, we can see that:
impact = mass(velocity) - mass(velocity original)
impact = force(change in time)
impact = change in momentum
force = change in momentum/change in time
Through another air track lab, we found out that velocities change when objects collide. This time, our variables were mass and velocity. We used a constant mass of 200 grams to find the changes in velocity when cats collide, and used cart weights of 200 grams and 400 grams to find out more about the relationship between mass and velocity.
It turns out, velocity and mass are indirectly proportional, while impulse and momentum are directly proportional.
No comments:
Post a Comment