Students examine how different balls react when colliding with different surfaces, giving plenty of opportunity for them to see the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions, learn how to calculate momentum, and understand the principle of conservation of momentum.

In this activity, students examine how different balls react when colliding with different surfaces. Also, they will have plenty of opportunity to learn how to calculate momentum and understand the principle of conservation of momentum.

This is a case study designed to facilitate the learning of conservation of momentum and inelastic collisions. There are other physics concepts ingrained in the mathematics that are needed when examining this case.

As a continuation of the theme of potential and kinetic energy, this lesson introduces the concepts of momentum, elastic and inelastic collisions. Many sports and games, such as baseball and ping-pong, illustrate the ideas of momentum and collisions. Students explore these concepts by bouncing assorted balls on different surfaces and calculating the momentum for each ball.

Students learn about the physical force of linear momentum movement in a straight line by investigating collisions. They learn an equation that engineers use to describe momentum. Students also investigate the psychological phenomenon of momentum; they see how the "big mo" of the bandwagon effect contributes to the development of fads and manias, and how modern technology and mass media accelerate and intensify the effect.

By taking a look at the energy of motion all around us, students learn about the types of energy and their characteristics. They first learn about the two simplest forms of mechanical energy: kinetic and potential energy, as illustrated by pendulums and roller coasters. They come to understand that energy can change from one form into another, and be described and determined by equations. Through the example of a waterwheel, the concepts of and differences between work and power are explained and calculated. Conservation of momentum and collisions are explored, with analogies to popular sports (billiards, baseball, golf), and how elastic and inelastic collisions are considered in the games' design. To show another energy transformation concept, the behavior of energy dissipating into heat by means of friction is presented. Students learn to recognize static friction, kinetic friction and drag, how they work, and how to calculate frictional force. A final lesson integrates the energy of motion concepts, showing how they are interconnected in everyday applications such as skateboards, scooters, roller coasters, trains, cars, planes, trucks and elevators. Through numerous hands-on activities, students swing pendulums, use plastic two-liter bottles to construct model waterwheels, bounce different types of balls, use weights to generate friction data, and roll balls down ramps to collide into cups.

Students will conduct several simple lab activities to learn about the five fundamental load types that can act on structures: tension, compression, shear, bending, and torsion. In this activity, students will play the role of molecules in a beam subject to various loading schemes.

The EJS Inelastic Collision of Particles with Structure model displays the inelastic collision between two equal "particles" with structure on a smooth horizontal surface. Each particle has two microscopic elements which interact through a massless spring of stiffness k and natural length L. The mass of one of the microscopic elements and the spring length of the connector spring can be changed via textboxes. You can modify this simulation if you have EJS installed by right-clicking within the plot and selecting "Open EJS Model" from the pop-up menu item.

NBC's Lester Holt looks at Newton's Third Law of Motion and the role that conservation of momentum plays whenever players collide on the football field. "Science of NFL Football" is a 10-part video series funded by the National Science Foundation and produced in partnership with the National Football League.