Two students conduct an experiment to test the Law of Conservation of Momentum. To do this, they use a white car (mass 0.8 kg) and a black car (mass 0.4 kg). The black car is given initial forward motion and collides with the white car, which is initially at rest. The students use video analysis to create the graph of position vs. time shown above, where black dots represent the black car's position and white dots represent the white car's position.

Respond to the following two questions by writing one or more paragraphs that state your answer to the question and your reasoning based on the graph and given data. Equations and calculations alone are not sufficient to explain your reasoning.

(a) Is momentum conserved in this collision?

(b) Is this collision elastic or inelastic?

(c) What net force does the white car exert on the black car during the collision? What net force does the black car exert on the white car during the collision?

 

10 6 8 7 6 Position (m) 10 3 2 1 0 0 1.5 2 0.5 Time (s)