Labs for Momentum and Collisions

Lesson Plans || Learning Outcomes and Activities || Teacher Notes || Labs

 

We have a collection of ~150 labs in the Laboratory section of the website. Each lab was intended to be used with a lab notebook where students report their data and findings and state their conclusion with supporting evidence and reasoning. The intent was to provide a relatively clear purpose (or question) to students that they would need to address AND to limit the amount of directions. The hope is that the purposes and students' ability to design a procedure would drive the lab activity (in contrast to a detailed set of step-by-step procedures being the driving force of students' activity). As such, each of our labs comes with a Question and Purpose and a short paragraph describing what should be included in students' lab report. On occassion, students are also provided a graphic organizer, data table, or other item to be taped into their notebook. The following pages may be useful for those teachers who wish to adopt or simply trial our Labs with a Purpose approach:

Our Thoughts on the Approach || About Lab Notebooks || Teacher Guides for All Labs

 

Lab 1 - Balloon Toss Lab

Question:
What variables affect the impact force in a collision and in what manner do they affect the force?

Purpose:
To investigate the effect of three variables (mass, collision time, velocity change) upon the impact force in a collision.

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, a Conclusion and a Post-Lab Questions section. The Data section should include some observations of the effect of varying mass, collision time and velocity change upon the impact force on a balloon. The Conclusion should respond to the question raised in the Purpose. The provided Post-Lab Questions should be completed and taped into your lab notebook.

 

Lab 2: Rebounding vs. Sticking

Question:
How does the impulse and resulting momentum change of an object compare for two different collisions – an elastic collision involving rebounding and an inelastic collision in which the object sticks to the collision surface?

Purpose:
To conduct an impulse-momentum change analysis for two types of collisions - one elastic and the other inelastic - and to compare the momentum change and impulse for the two collision types.

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion/Discussion of Results. The Data section should include a sketch of any relevant graphs obtained from the LabPro interface software; comments, descriptions and relevant quantitative information should be provided for each graph. The Conclusion should respond to the Purpose of the Lab (as always). The Discussion of Results should include a discussion of the manner in which the evidence supports the conclusion; specific data results should be referenced.

 

Lab 3: Action-Reaction

Question:
How do the post-explosion momenta of two carts which are propelled away from each other by an identical force compare to each other?

Purpose:
To compare the post-explosion momenta of two carts which are propelled away from each other by an identical force.

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion/Discussion of Results. The Data section should include a sample sketch of the velocity-time graphs and a table of data, organized in rows and columns in order to describe the results for several trials with carts of varying mass combinations. Both measured and calculated data should be included. At least one example calculation should be provided for each type of calculation. The Conclusion/Discussion should involve a comparison of the post-explosion momenta of the two individual carts. An error analysis should be conducted and percent differences should be calculated for the various data trials.

 

Lab 4 - Before and After

Question:
What predictive principles might be capable of describing the post-collision results for simple inelastic and elastic collisions?

Purpose:
To qualitatively and systematically analyze a several simple collisions in an effort to develop some predictive principles associated with a collision analysis.

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion/Discussion of Results. The Data section should include a description (diagrams preferred) of the before- and after-collision momentum of two colliding carts. Several trials of observations for a systematic method of variable manipulation should be documented; at least four inelastic and at least two elastic collisions should be tested. The Conclusion/Discussion should reference the data trials in an effort to state some general principles regarding changes in momentum of individual objects and total system momentum. Words and/or sample numbers should be used in the discussion.

 

Lab 5: Inelastic Collision Analysis

Question:
What is the evidence that momentum is conserved in an inelastic collision between two carts? In what manner does the evidence support the law of momentum conservation?

Purpose:
To gather convincing evidence that total system momentum is conserved in an inelastic collision between two carts AND to describe how the evidence supports the law of momentum conservation.

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion/Discussion of Results. The Data section should include the provided table. One example calculation should be shown for each type of calculation. The Conclusion/Discussion should provide a thorough analysis of the results, identifying successful and unsuccessful trials; specific evidence from each trial which indicate success (or lack thereof) should be elaborated upon. Percent error or percent difference calculations should be performed and a complete error analysis included within the discussion.

 

Also Available ...

Physics teachers may find the following for-sale tools to be useful supplements to our Lesson Plan and Pacing Guide section:

 

1. Task Tracker Subscription (annual purchase)
   A subscription allows teachers to set up classes, add students, customize online assignments, view student progress/scores, and export student scores. Task Tracker accounts allow your students to begin assignments in class or at school and to finish them at home. View our Seat and Cost Calculator for pricing details.
    
2. The Solutions Guide
   We publish a free curriculum with >200 ready-to-use Think Sheets for developing physics concepts. The Solutions Guide is a download containing the source documents, PDFs of source documents, and answers/solutions in MS Word and PDF format. An expanded license agreement is included with the purchase. (Cost: $25 download)
    
3. Teacher Presentation Pack
   This is a large collection of downloadable content packed with nearly 190 Microsoft PowerPoint slide decks, the corresponding Lesson Notes (as PDF and fully-modifiable MS Word format), about 170 animations (in .gif, .png, and .mp4 file formats), a countless number of ready-to-use images (including the original source documents that would allow for easy modification of those images), and a license that allows teachers to modify and use all the content with their classes on password-protected sites (such as course management systems).  (Cost: $40 download)
    
4. Question Bank
   We distribute a Question Bank that includes more than 9300 questions neatly organized according to topic. The Question Bank is the perfect tool for busy teachers or new teachers. Even if you don't use the website with your classes, the Question Bank will assist you in quickly putting together quizzes, tests and other documents with high-quality questions that target student's conceptions of physics principles. And if you do use The Physics Classroom website, the Question Bank is the perfect complement to the materials found at the website. (Cost: $25 download)