In Ballistic Pendulum Lab, the conservation of momentum during the, collision be
ID: 1419158 • Letter: I
Question
In Ballistic Pendulum Lab, the conservation of momentum during the, collision between the ball and the catcher and the conservation of mechanical energy during the catcher swing enable us to find the4 velocity of the catcher (pendulum) right after the collision for the completely inelastic collision. a) In the partial elastic collision (in which the ball bounced off the catcher) the conservation of momentum still applies during the collision but we could not use the height change data to find the initial velocity of the ball, why? b) Give your reason why we take several trials in measuring the pendulum height change to find the initial speed of the ballistic ball instead of measure only once.Explanation / Answer
Momentum will be conserved as no external force during collision on the system but energy will not be conserved as some part of initial kinetic energy will go to deformation of the ball and catchers hand, hence Mechanical energy will not be conserved. In partially elastic collision the complete deformation is not regained.
Part B). As there will be some losses , hence we have to average of these losses.