Momentum

Momentum is simply the mass of an object multiplied by its velocity.

M=m(v)

Momentum can be changed through impulses and by how long the impulse lasts.

Impulses increases when an object bounces, this is because technically, bouncing consists of many impulses, and when they are all put together the overall impulse Is larger than an object tha tdidnt bounce.

Impulse Lab

The slope of this graph proves that impulse and the change in velocity are directly related. It also gives us an equation for impulse which is

Impulse=mass(change in velocity)

In the Collision lab we had a car with two springs on it. One with a plunger and one with a large circular spring on the front.

We measured force exerted by the car and the spring with a force detector and we measured position with a motion detector.

The oval spring had a smaller force than the plunger but the force exerted by the oval spring longer than the force exerted by the plunger.

We later called this the impulse, which was the same, the only difference was the time it took to exert the force.

Impulse = F * t

Impulse is related directly with mass

In the second lab we had two cars on the same ramp. One was not moving in the center of the ramp and the other we ran into the stationary car. We measured the velocity before, the velocity after, change in velocity, impulse, momentum before, and momentum of both after. Today (Feb. 4th, 2010) we decide in class what sets of data we need to graph in order to come up with anther model to find dissipated enegy.

Formulas we have so far:

Impulse = m * (change in) v

mv = p [mass * velocity = momentum]