We determined the Impulse (J) of a cart by moving it at a constant velocity towards a wall. We attached a force censor to the wall and had the cart bounce off of it then used a motion detector to measure velocity and position on both sides.
Our group's data was not able to be retrieved, these graphs are courtesy of Zach Pabis an his group
Cart: Momentum (kg*m/s) vs. Time (s) (our data)
Initial Momentum = Initial Velocity * Mass = 0.688 m/s * 0.252 kg = 0.1734 kgm/s
Final Momentum = Final Velocity * Mass = -0.649 m/s * 0.252 kg = -0.1635 kgm/s
Impulse (change in momentum) = -0.1635 - 0.1734 = -0.3369 kgm/s
Impulse from Force vs. Time graph = Area under the graph = -0.3981 kgm/s
Percent Difference = |-0.3369+.3981|/.3675. = 16.65%
Impulse is defined as the change in momentum and the area of under a Force vs. Time graph. Our 16.65% percent difference shows that these values are similar enough for us to say that they are the same. This proves that our definition of Impulse is correct, and both our tests show this with not much uncertainty.
Final Momentum = Final Velocity * Mass = -0.649 m/s * 0.252 kg = -0.1635 kgm/s
Impulse (change in momentum) = -0.1635 - 0.1734 = -0.3369 kgm/s
Impulse from Force vs. Time graph = Area under the graph = -0.3981 kgm/s
Percent Difference = |-0.3369+.3981|/.3675. = 16.65%
Impulse is defined as the change in momentum and the area of under a Force vs. Time graph. Our 16.65% percent difference shows that these values are similar enough for us to say that they are the same. This proves that our definition of Impulse is correct, and both our tests show this with not much uncertainty.