Physics Demo Number: 083

Approximate Run Time: 5 min

Happy versus Unhappy Ball Collision With Plastic Domino

Demo Description

Make use of a ball-launching ramp , a plastic domino, and a matched set of happy/ unhappy balls to show strikingly different outcomes of a controlled collision between each of the two balls and the domino.

Scientific Principles

• Impulse- Momentum Change

• Conservation of Energy or Not

Equipment & Set Up

• Lab Jack

• Launching Ramps and Base

• Matched Set of Happy/Unhappy Balls

• #4 Plastic Domino

Equipment Location

• Lab jack on [G-1-6]

• Launching Ramps and Base,Matched set of happy/ unhappy balls , all in Kit (083) on [E-4-3]

• #4 Domino from Kit (117) on [E-4-3]

Instructions

The photo shows launching ramps , lab jack , and #4 Domino (in yellow) from demo (117) , to use with a matched set of happy/ unhappy balls to show a variation on the principle in demo (003).

The unhappy (dead) ball undergoes a momentum change of approximately one half of that of the happy (elastic) ball when each rolls down the same ramp and collides with the plastic domino. The domino topples for the happy ball, but not for the unhappy ball .

Demonstration conceived and implemented by Shane Hutson and David A. Burba.

Writeup created by David A. Burba

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