BICOL STATE COLLEGE OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
College of Engineering Department
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering
BISCAST 98, Peñafrancia Ave, Naga, Camarines Sur
A/Y 2024-2025
Laboratory Report #3 in
Physics for Engineers/ Engineering Technologists
COLLISION IN 1 DIMENSION
GENIO, BRYLE ANGELO L.
DE BELEN, ANGELICA
HERNANDEZ, MARTIN BENITO II R.
LAVANDERO, JEMWELL S.
PASA, ENELL DEXTER N.
POSTIGO, CHRISTOPHER N.
Submitted to:
Engr. Axel M. Gayondato
PFEN001A Instructor
BSCE – 2B
September 30, 2024
I. INTRODUCTION
Collisions happen or occur in our everyday life. From bumping into
another person to objects that collide like cars in a road accident. When two or
more objects collide, usually with significant force, it is referred to as a collision.
Because collisions involve fundamental concepts of momentum and energy
transfer, which aid in explaining how things behave before, during, and after an
impact, understanding collisions is essential.
There are different classifications of collision based on how energy and
momentum are conserved, these are Elastic Collision, Inelastic Collision, and
Perfectly Inelastic Collison. Elastic Collision refers to the total kinetic energy of
an object which will remain the same even after the collision meaning that both
momentum and kinetic energy are conserved. Inelastic Collision refers to the
energy being converted into other forms, like sound and heat or used to deform
the objects involved meaning that the momentum is conserved while the kinetic
energy is lost. Perfectly Inelastic Collisions refers to objects being intact with
each other after impact and moving as a single combined object meaning that the
kinetic energy is being maximized in terms of it being lost while momentum is
still conserved.
Collision is one of the fundamental aspects of mechanics that is used to
explain a variety of physical phenomena such as atomic and molecular
interactions to large objects in motion like vehicles and/or celestial bodies.
II. LABORATORY EXECUTION PROCEDURE
The experiment was conducted virtually using the PhET Collision Lab,
an interactive simulation that enables students to explore collisions in one or
more dimensions. To simplify the initial setup, we configured the simulator to
one dimension.
The experiment consisted of two phases:
Phase 1:
In this phase, we simulated elastic collisions under two scenarios:
1. Scenario 1: Two objects of equal mass, but different accelerations were
used.
2. Scenario 2: Objects with varying masses and velocities were simulated.
Phase 2:
In this phase, we randomly created scenarios that included two elastic
collisions and one inelastic collision. The collisions involved objects with
different masses and velocities.
After each simulation, we recorded the data and results for analysis.
III. DATA AND OBSERVATION
A. PHASE 1
Scenario #1: Elastic collision between balls with equal mass.
Hypothesis: The initial momentum of the system after collision will be equal to
its final momentum.
Table 1: The final and initial velocity and momentum of the system
BALL MASS INITIAL FINAL
VELOCITY MOMENTUM VELOCITY MOMENTUM
1 2 kg 0.77 m/s 1.54 kg. m/s -0.85 m/s -1.70 kg. m/s
2 2 kg -0.85 m/s -1.70 kg. m/s 0.77 m/s 1.54kg. m/s
What is the relationship of the initial and final momentum?
The sum of the initial momentum is equal to the sum of the final momentum
of the system
Describe the motion of the ball after the collision.
From its initial velocity ball 2 moves faster than the ball 1, after the
collision occur the direction of the balls from its initial direction was reversed and
the ball 2 now has the lesser movement compared to the ball 1.
Scenario #2 Elastic collision between balls with unequal mass.
Hypothesis: The initial and final momentum of the system after collision will
remain the same.
Table 2: The final and initial velocity and momentum of the system
BALL MASS INITIAL FINAL
VELOCITY MOMENTUM VELOCITY MOMENTUM
1 0.50 kg 0.72 m/s 0.36 kg. m/s -1.14 m/s -0.57 kg. m/s
2 1.50 kg -0.52 m/s -0.78 kg. m/s 0.10 m/s 0.15 kg. m/s
What is the relationship of initial and final momentum?
The initial momentum and final momentum of the system is the same
after elastic collision.
Describe the motion of the ball after the collision.
The ball 1 with the mass of 0.50 kg with the initial velocity of 0.72 m/s
moves faster than the ball 2 with the mass of 1.50 kg with the velocity of -0.52
m/s. After the collision happened, ball 1 increased its movement while ball 2
become slower and both travelled opposite direction from its initial direction
after the collision.
Discussion
In an elastic collision between two objects, momentum is conserved. For
two balls with equal mass, the collision can be analyzed using the conservation
of momentum. For two objects of equal mass, an interesting result emerges:
after the collision, the velocities and momentum of the objects are essentially
swapped. This means if two balls collide elastically, the velocity and momentum
of first ball will end up with the velocity and momentum of the second ball, and
the velocity and momentum of the second ball will end up with velocity and
momentum of the first ball.
When two balls of unequal mass collide elastically, the analysis is slightly
more complex but still follows the same principles of momentum and kinetic
energy conservation. The velocities after the collision the result depends on the
initial velocities and masses. The final velocities are not simply swapped but are
instead a function of both the initial velocities and the ratio of the masses.
B. PHASE 2
General Hypothesis: The momentum of different system are all the same
from its initial and final momentum, and it follows to the conservation of
momentum.
Scenario #1 Elastic collision between two balls with the same mass but with
velocity
Table 3. Object with same mass with different velocity
BALL MASS INITIAL FINAL
VELOCITY MOMENTUM VELOCITY MOMENTUM
1 0.60 kg 0 0 -1.36 m/s -0.47 kg. m/s
2 0.60 kg -0.79 m/s -0.47 kg. m/s 0. 35 m/s 0
Scenario #2 Elastic collision between two balls with different mass and velocity.
Table 4. Object with different mass with different velocity
BALL MASS INITIAL FINAL
VELOCITY MOMENTUM VELOCITY MOMENTUM
1 0.23 kg 0 0 -1.14 m/s -0.26 kg. m/s
2 0.60 kg -0.79 m/s -0.47 kg. m/s 0. 35 m/s -0.21 kg. m/s
Scenario #3 Inelastic collision between two unequal masses
Table 5. Object with different mass and velocity
BALL MASS INITIAL FINAL
VELOCITY MOMENTUM VELOCITY MOMENTUM
1 1 kg 0.73 m/s 0.73 kg. m/s -0.79 m/s -0.79 kg. m/s
2 2 kg -1.55 m/s -3.10 kg. m/s -0.79 m/s -1.58 kg. m/s
From the data gathered it can be observed that the final and initial momentum
is always the same regardless of the different properties and movement of the
object and the type of collision whether its elastic or inelastic.
IV. CONCLUSION
In various scenarios involving elastic and inelastic collisions, it was
consistently observed that the system's total initial momentum equaled its total
final momentum. This supports the hypothesis that momentum is conserved
regardless of the type of collision or the masses and velocities of the objects.
During elastic collisions, the objects maintained their individual
momentum properties while exchanging energy in predictable ways, such as
changes in velocity or direction. In inelastic collisions, although the objects
moved together after impact, the combined system still upheld the principle of
momentum conservation. These findings affirm the universality of momentum
conservation as a core principle of classical mechanics, applicable to systems
with diverse masses and velocities.
