Question
A group of students has two carts, A and B , with wheels that turn with negligible friction. The carts can travel along a straight
A group of students has two carts, A and B , with wheels that turn with negligible friction. The carts can travel along a straight horizontal track. Cart A has known mass m A . The students are asked to use a one-dimensional collision between the carts to determine the mass of cart B. Before the collision, cart A travels to the right and cart B is initially at rest, as shown above. After the collision, the carts stick together.
a) Describe an experimental procedure to determine the velocities of the carts before and after a collision, including all the additional equipment you would need. You may include a labeled diagram of your setup to help in your description. Indicate what measurements you would take and how you would take them. Include enough detail so that another student could carry out your procedure.
b) There will be sources of error in the measurements taken in the experiment, both before and after the collision. For your experimental procedure, will the uncertainty in the calculated value of the mass of cart B be affected more by the error in the measurements taken before the collision or by those taken after the collision, or will it be equally affected by both sets of measurements? Justify your answer.
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