Equipment Needed:
• “Ballistic Pendulum” oPhysics simulation
• These instructions
Purpose:
The purpose of this lab will be to verify the equations conservation
of momentum for inelastic collisions.
Theory:
In Newtonian mechanics’ linear momentum is the product of the
mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a
magnitude and a direction.
Procedure:
1. Launch the oPhysics Simulation “Ballistic Pendulum”
2. Set the Bullet Mass to be 0.10 kg
3. Set the pendulum mass to be 3.00 kg
4. Set the initial velocity of the bullet to 100 m/s
5. Set the height to be zero.
6. Hit “Fire”
7. The pendulum will now be swinging back and forth, use the height
slider to determine the change in height by adjusting it so that it
just touches the bottom of the pendulum at the top of its swing.
8. Record all the relevant data in Table 8.1
9. Redo for projectile velocities of 125 m/s, 150 m/s, 175 m/s, 200
m/s, and 225 m/s; entering your results into Table 8.1.
10. Redo with the pendulum mass set to 5kg, and the above velocities,
again entering your results in table 8.1
Procedure/Graphs
1. Transfer the height and mass data to Table 8.2.
2. Using equation (5), calculate the expected projectile velocities in
Table 8.2
3. Compute the percent error between the actual and calculated
velocities.
equation 5: Vp=(1+M/m)*square root of (2gh)
PHYS 2125
University Physics I Laboratory
Experiment #8: Ballistic Pendulum
Names: ____________________________________
____________________________________
Date: ____________________________________
write an ABSTRACT for the experiment.
fill up the height(m) DATA
Table 8.1: Ballistic Pendulum
m=0.1kg M=3.00kg
Velocity (m/s) Height (m)
100
125
150
175
200
225
m=0.1kg M=5.00kg
Velocity (m/s) Height (m)
100
125
150
175
200
225
do the CALCULATIONS and fill up the height (m) the calculated Vp (m/s) and the %error.
Table 8.2: Actual vs Calculated projectile velocity
m=0.1kg M=3.00kg
Actual Vp (m/s) Height (m) Calculated Vp (m/s) %Error
100
125
150
175
200
225
m=0.1kg M=5.00kg
Actual Vp (m/s) Height (m) Calculated Vp (m/s) %Error
100
125
150
175
200
225
write a CONCLUSIONS for the experiment.
