Inelastic Collisions Purpose: To gather evidence that can be used to support a claim that total system momentum is or is not conserved in an inelastic collision. Background: The objects involved in a collision are often considered as a system. Provided that the system of two objects is not experiencing a net external impulse, there would be no change in momentum of the system. If one object within the system loses momentum, it is gained by the other object within the system. The combined momentum of both objects would be conserved. Getting Ready: Navigate to the Collision Carts Interactive in the Physics Interactives section of The Physics Classroom website: http://www. physicsclassroom. com/Physics-Interactives/Momentum-a nd-Collisions/Collision-Carts Path: physicsclassroom. com => Physics Interactives => Momentum and Collisions => Collision Carts Once the Interactive opens, resize it as desired. Select the Inelastic Collisions option. Experiment with changing the Mass and the Initial Velocity of the two carts. Observe how the position of the carts along the track can be changed by dragging. Learn to Start, Pause, and Reset the animation. Collision 1: Blue Cart Initially at Rest Set the initial blue cart velocity to 0 m/s. Set the mass values to different values. Run the simulation and record the mass and velocity values. Before Collision After Collision mRed = kg mBlue = kg Use mass and velocity values to complete the following momentum table. Before Collision After Collision ∆Momentum Red Cart kg x m/s = kg•m/s kg x m/s = kg•m/s Blue Cart kg x m/s = kg•m/s kg x m/s = kg•m/s System Total v = m/s v = m/s