PHYS221 – Lab 6

Impulse–Momentum Theorem
Instructional Goals:
• Accurately measure the force applied to a moving cart.
• Accurately measure the cart’s velocity at different times to calculate its momentum at different
times.
• Quantitatively compare the force applied to an object through a time period and its change in
momentum.

Equipment provided in the in-person lab:

• PASCO Smart Cart • Cart Masses (2 x 500g) • Wood Blocks

• PASCO Dynamics Track • Bubble Level • Triple Beam Balance or
• PC with Microsoft Excel, Digital Scale
PASCO Capstone software

Equipment provided in the in-person lab:

• PC with internet connection and
o Zoom
o MS Excel
o PASCO Capstone

Background:
In any interaction where an object changes its momentum, a force must have been applied over a finite
period of time. This is called impulse and can be shown by applying Newton’s second law of motion,
p
F=  F ( t ) = p
t
where p = mv . The above is the most general form of Newton’s second law and it applies in all cases. It
applies when the mass of an object changes (i.e. a rocket or any other object that consumes fuel and
expels the productions of combustion),

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PHYS221 – Lab 6 Impulse–Momentum Theorem

dp  ( mv ) v m
= =m +v
dt t t t
In all your cases so far, the mass of the object has been considered to be unchanging with time, such that
m
= 0 . So, we recover the form of Newton’s second law with which you are most familiar: F = ma .
t
Taking F ( t ) = p .

J = p f − pi

Note that p 0 occurs at time t 0 and p f occurs at time t f . The right-hand side is the change in momentum
of the object undergoing a force (which may be a function of time) given as p = p f − pi , the left hand

side is defined to be the impulse, J,

J = Favg ( t f − t0 ) = p

where Favg is the average force during the period from t 0 to t f .

This experiment is setup such that the motion sensor will give the velocity of the cart (positive or negative)
at any given time along the track. The force sensor will be set up such that it measures the force during
the collision. As you have almost certainly experienced when colliding with another object or person, the
force is not constant during the collision but rises from no force to a maximum and then decreases back
to zero when the collision ends.

Impulse momentum Simulation

The simulation is found in the following link:
http://www.thephysicsaviary.com/Physics/Programs/Labs/ImpulseLab/index.html
In this lab you will use fire extinguisher to
give the amount astronaut wally different
impulses. For each impulse you need to
determine Wally’s speed and momentum
as he passes the two photogates that are
10m apart. You can control the mass of the
wally, the strength of force of the fire
extinguisher and the time the extinguisher
is on. You must end the impulse before he
reaches the first photogate. When you are
ready to perform simulation, you need to
press Activate. Why do you need to press
Shut Off before Wally reaches the first
photogate?

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You need to check that Wally’s momentum after the extinguisher is shut off is equal to the impulse
received from the extinguisher.
1. Run the simulation and record the four variables, force, time force is applied, Wally’s mass and
time between photogates.
a. Using the Impulse-Momentum theorem, solve (algebraically) for the distance between
the photogates. Compare this to the set 10m distance.
2. Change Wally’s mass and do step 1 again.
3. Change the extinguisher’s force and do step 1 again.
4. Keeping the Wally’s mass and extinguisher force constant, do five trials with different extinguisher
times.
a. Calculate Wally’s velocity for each trial
b. Using MS Excel, Capstone or other graphing software, plot Wally’s speed through the
photogates vs. the extinguisher firing time. The data should fall on a line (why?). Find
the slope of this line and what it represents.

Procedure
Setup
Instructions in gray are for performing the lab in-person and are provided for reference only!

A Capstone file and Excel file with data from the in-person lab is available on your course (or lab) Canvas
site. Your TA may direct to another location to find it. Each lab group will have a different Capstone file
and Excel file to every other group with similar but independently taken data.

YOU MUST USE THE DATA SET ASSIGNED TO YOUR GROUP.

Using a data set that was not assigned will result in a substantial penalty in your score.

You may wish to refer to the setup and instructions of how to use Capstone from the first lab in which
Capstone was used. Open the Capstone file your TA has assigned to your group.

1. Refer to the Lab Introduction Video posted on your Canvas course/lab site to see how the data
was taken
2. Power on the smart cart.
3. In Capstone, select Hardware Setup and connect to your Smart Cart. Make sure the ID number
matches. On the Controls panel, set the Force Sensor sampling rate to 200 Hz and the Position
sensor to 150 Hz or 200Hz.
In excel sheet you can see the force sensor sampling rate and position sensor rate.
4. We want the system to show two graphs with a common time axis. One should be the velocity of
the cart, the other force registered by the force sensor.

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PHYS221 – Lab 6 Impulse–Momentum Theorem

5. Level the track using the spirit level. It should be level both length-wise and width-wise. If the
cart is placed at rest on the track (without any tension on the force sensor cable) and begins to
move, adjust the height of the track legs to level the track.
6. Place the cart on the track. Test the position of the magnets in the bumper by placing the cart
next to the force sensor. Do not zero the force sensor when the cart is near it.
7. With the cart about 50 cm to 80 cm from the bumper, give it a gentle push. It should move
without losing speed and bounce off the magnetic bumper on the force sensor. It should return
with approximately the same speed. DO NOT ALLOW THE CART TO HIT THE MOTION SENSOR!
The cart should rebound cleanly off the force sensor. By “cleanly”, we mean that it does not touch
the force sensor and it does not “jump the track” (i.e. bounces straight backward and not askew).
8. If your cart appears to be slowing down in one direction OR the other, go back and level the track
again. If the appears to slowdown noticeably in both directions, ask your instructor for help.

Data Collection and Analysis

1. The mass of the cart on a triple beam balance or digital scale was measured and is given in Excel
sheet. Note the actual mass and the error in the mass is provided in excel sheet. Also, the
rectangular cart mass is measured and given in the excel sheet.
2. Lift the side of the track without the magnetic
bumper and place the track legs on two wood
blocks. Record the distance between the legs of
the ramp “d”. Since these lab tables are not level θ h
and you previously adjusted the legs to level the
track, the difference in height from one leg to the other must be the height of one block. (h). From
this, you can calculate the sine of the angle of inclination. The angle of the track and the
acceleration of the cart due to gravity on the inclined plane is provided in the excel sheet.

3. Zero the force sensor by pushing the zero button on the side of the Force Sensor. If you cannot
find it, it is on the side where there is a hole in the track mounting bracket. Zero the Force Sensor
before every data run.

4. Place the cart on the track approximately 20 cm to 25 cm from the bumper with the force sensor
pointing downward. You can test the position of the magnets using the iron cart weights or
placing the cart next to the force sensor. Do not zero the force sensor when the cart is near it.
5. You should take the first data run with no weight added to the cart.
a. Once again verify that the force sensor is on the side that will interact with the bumper.

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b. Place the cart so that it is about 20 cm away from the bumper. Let the cart roll to see if it
rebounds cleanly off the force sensor. If it bounces askew, shorten the distance between
the cart’s starting point and the force sensor.
6. Place the cart at its starting
point. Click “Record” and
release the cart. The cart
will bounce several times.
Stop collecting data after
the cart has impacted the
bumper at least three times.
For each data run, you
should see a graph similar to
the one shown to the right.

7. Adjust the scale and location of

the time axis such that it shows
the force and change in velocity
during the collision. You can see
this as one of the “bumps” in the
force graph when it significantly
deviates from zero. It should now
look similar to the graph to the
right.

8. Record your work in the provided Excel spreadsheet (“Impulse-Momentum - Excel Data
Sheet.xlsx” or similarly named) similar to the one shown below. The shaded cells are calculation
columns and the blank cells are where you should enter your data (and measured uncertainties):

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Uncertainty in Mass of System

Impulse due to Gravity During

Uncertainty in Change in Cart

Force of Gravity on the Cart

Change in Cart Momentum
Uncertainty in Cart Initial

Uncertainty in Final Cart

Cart Initial Momentum
Uncertainty in Impulse

Cart Final Momentum

Duration of Collision

Measured Impulse

Cart Initial Velocity

Cart Final Velocity

Down the Incline

Bounce Number

Mass of System
Run Number

Momentum

Momentum

Momentum

the Collision
Initial Time

Final Time
m δm ti tf Δt = t f -t i J δJ vi vf pi δp i pf δp f Δp = p f -p i δ(Δp ) Fg Jg
(kg) (kg) (s) (s) (s) (N∙s) (N∙s) (m/s) (m/s) (kg∙m/s) (kg∙m/s) (kg∙m/s) (kg∙m/s) (kg∙m/s) (kg∙m/s) (N) (N∙s)
1 1 0 0 0 #NUM! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 0
1 2 0 0 0 #NUM! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 0
1 3 0 0 0 #NUM! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 0
2 1 0 0 0 #NUM! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 0
2 2 0 0 0 #NUM! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 0
2 3 0 0 0 #NUM! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 #DIV/0! 0 0

Angle of Incline (°)

Acceleration due to Gravity (m/s 2) 0
Note that calculated values may
Mass of Cart (kg) show up as a zero or errors (e.g.
Mass of Bar (kg)
Uncertainty in mass (kg) #NUM!, #DIV/0!) until the
Uncertainty in Capstone Timing (δt )
Uncertainty in Motion Detector velocity δv (m/s)
appropriate data are recorded.
Uncertainty in Force Sensor δF (N)
Force Sensor Frequency (Hz)
Motion Detector Frequency (Hz)

The calculation cells (blue) will show zero or errors until data is entered.
For the first bounce of the first run you must do each calculation manually as specified in the
results below. The reason for this is verify that the spreadsheet is providing the correct values.
The step-by-step data collection and calculations are listed below. You must include the formulae
for calculated values/uncertainties and actual numerical calculations for the first bounce of the
first run in your lab report.
9. As in the Work-Kinetic Energy lab, use the highlight tool to select the region of the first bounce.
This region should be from when the force begins to steadily rise to when it stops steadily falling.
Do not move this highlighting box until you have recorded the velocities in step (11). Use the
“Display Area Under Active Data” tool at the top of the graph to find the area under the graph.
Record the value and units.
a. What are the units of this area?
b. How does the software calculate this area? (Hint: Zoom in on the shaded area region.)
c. Why does it represent the impulse applied to the cart by the force sensor?
d. What is the impulse applied to the force sensor?
e. To what is the impulse applied?
10. Although you can go through the lengthy derivation for the measurement error in the impulse, it
becomes very simple if we make the reasonable assumption that the error in the timing of our
data points is very small compared to the error in the force.
In the case of the equipment you are using the error in the time measurement is 10-6 s. This gives
you a  ( t ) 1.4 10−6 s . Since the force will not exceed 12N, we will get an error of
 Jtiming 10−5 N s . For the force sensor, the error will be on the order of 0.02 N, thus the
 J Force =  F ( t ) 5 10−4 N s , which is an order of magnitude larger (actually the difference
will be double this as each component is squared).

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If we go through “all the math” meticulously, we would get that the error in the impulse will be
about

n −1
 J = ( F )( t )
4
where n is the number of data points included in the area,  F is the error in measurement of
the force scale, and t = 1/ frequency is the time period at which each data point is collected.
a. To get the error in the force, make a data run for about five to ten seconds without a
collision and the cart laying “wheels side up” about 20 cm from the force sensor such that
we can get the error in velocity which we will need later. The value of  F is calculated
and is provided in the excel sheet.
b. Drag a table onto the screen and select Force for one column and Position for the other.
Run the data collection for five to ten seconds and use the statistics tool to get the
standard deviation in the position. These should be the same values in all of your data
runs. Thus  J should only vary by the number of data points.
c. You can now report a value of J   J for each bounce in every data run.
11. As in the Work-Kinetic Energy lab, use the multi-coordinates tool to find the velocities at the time
at the beginning and end of your impulse measurement. The sign of the velocity is important,
remember that velocity and momentum are vectors.
12. To find the error in the momentum, we need to know the error in the mass and velocity.
a. The measured the mass of the cart (and blocks) such that you have m   m .
b. The error in velocity,  v is already calculated and is available in excel sheet through the
procedure given below
i. Find δx by determining the smallest increment that can be measured.
xi − xi −1
ii. The system determines velocity by vi = . Since the time difference is
ti − ti −1
constant (and the experimental error low, we will take t = ti − ti −1 , and this is
how often the system take data. I.e., 1/frequency of data collection for the
position sensor. We will take the measurement error in the time measurements
to be low enough to be negligible.
x
iii. Since v = , by a little calculus we get
t
x
v = 2
t
c. Given that p = mv , the error in the momentum is

m v 
2 2

p= p   + 
 m   v 

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d. You now have a value for the momentum with error p   p for before and after each
bounce.
13. Calculate the momenta before and after the collision with error.
a. Make sure you are at the same time as the beginning and end of the area under the force
curve for pi   pi and p f   p f

14. Calculate the net change in momentum and the error:

 ( p ) = ( pi ) + ( p f )
2
p = p f − pi
2

15. Consider the sign of your impulse and momentum vectors. The momentum vector was
determined by the velocity vector and is positive if motion is away from the motion detector. The
sign of the impulse depends on the direction of the force vector. Which way was positive, in the
same or opposite direction of the motion sensor? (It may help to consult the introductory video.)
Do you need to compensate for this? If so, do it now and note why.
16. You can now quantitatively compare your impulse and change in momentum to see if they agree.
In other words,

p − J  2 ( ( p ) ) + ( J )
? 2 2

If the change is less than double the combined error, then change in momentum and the impulse
provided are in agreement. If not, they are not in agreement.
If they are not in agreement, why do you think that is? Be specific.
17. In your report, include one set of graphs of the velocity and force that clearly shows the collision.
Your selections made with the multi coordinates tool and for area should clearly appear in your
graph.
18. Repeat steps 9 through 17 with for the next two “bounces”. (You only need to do the manual
calculation for the first bounce of the first data run.)
19. For the second data run, the cart masses were added to the cart. Complete steps 6 through 18.
You will need to reduce the distance between the cart and force sensor to 12 cm or less to have
the cart bounce cleanly without contacting the force sensor. Remember to ZERO the force sensor
just before each data run.
20. For each of these collisions, are the impulse applied to the cart and its change of momentum in
quantitative agreement?
21. Calculate the impulse applied to the cart by gravity during the collision. Do this manually for the
first bounce of the first data run. Note that this will depend on the time of the collision which will
change with each bounce. Take the error to be negligible.

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PHYS221 – Lab 6 Impulse–Momentum Theorem

22. Find the total impulse applied to the cart during the collision by adding the impulses of gravity
and that of the force sensor. Remember that impulse is a vector – what sign should each of these
have and why?
23. Quantitatively compare the net impulse and change in momentum for each bounce. Does the
Impulse-Momentum Theorem hold?

Make sure your data appear in neat tables (e.g. from the spreadsheet) with all measurements and
calculated values. All calculated values should have formulae using measured data, physical constants
and other values previously calculated. Numerical calculations need to be done manually for the first
bounce of the first data run to show the values in the spreadsheet have been calculated properly.

As always, make sure your report contains the appropriate recorded information:
• Name of Lab.
• Your name and partners’ names (i.e., those present).
• Date and lab section number.
• Objective and Purpose statement.
• Sketch of the apparatus (appropriately annotated – check the video if needed).
• Any procedural steps indicating any deviations from the manual.
• Data and Calculations (include all data, sample calculations, graphs, uncertainties, uncertainty
calculations, etc.).
• Brief discussion and conclusion as needed.

Keep in mind, at some point later labs will require you to refer to previous labs for information and a
complete notebook will be necessary.

Save the copied pictures of your graphs. You will need to use the data and graphs
in your report.

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PHYS221 – Lab 6 Impulse–Momentum Theorem

Pre-Lab Exercises
Full Name:

Lab Section:

Hand this in at the beginning of the lab period. The grade for these exercises will be included in your
lab grade this week.
1) What formula is used to represent the impulse-momentum theorem?

2) Draw a free body diagram for mass m1 (the cart in

our experiment) during the collision. Here m2 is
firmly attached to the incline (i.e., the fixed
bumper).

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Pre-Lab Continued

3) What is the net impulse on m1 ? (remember force is a vector, specify magnitude and direction)

4) For the same given change in momentum, what effect will a shorter interaction time have on
the average force?

©UDel Physics 11 of 11 Fall 2021