Activities

Bell Ringer: Perfectly Inelastic Collisions

Published on 01/14/2011

Students use a simulation of a one-dimensional perfectly inelastic collision to explore the relationship between mass, velocity, and momentum.

Students use a simulation to explore conservation of momentum during perfectly inelastic collisions.
First, students explore the effects of changing mass and velocity on the momentum of an object by calculating the total momentum of a system before a collision.
Then, they explore the effects of changing mass and velocity of one of the objects on the final mass and velocity of the system after a perfectly inelastic collision.