Our school has a very small budget for equipment. So finding a gem like a conservation of momentum lab requiring only basic materials (TPT, October 2005)1 adds a great deal to my physics course. In this lab, a “shooter” nickel makes a non-head-on collision with a stationary “target” nickel. Students measure the distance each nickel slides after the collision and the angles shown in the diagram. The paper by James Hunt1 explains how these data can be used to verify conservation of momentum in the direction perpendicular to the shooter's initial velocity. This paper suggests some possible sources of error and explains how the angles can be used to study energy relationships in the collision.

Topics
Energy conservation, Newtonian mechanics, Transition metals, Education, Budget
1.
James L.
Hunt
, “
Five quantitative physics experiments (almost) without special apparatus
,”
Phys. Teach.
43
,
412
–
416
(Oct.
2005
).
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© 2008 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2008
American Association of Physics Teachers
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