Collisions in One Dimension Concept

Demonstrations in Collisions in One Dimension

Large Newton's cradle with nine black billiard balls on bifilar suspension from a gray metal frame, mounted on a wooden base

Newton's Cradle

Demonstrates conservation of momentum and kinetic energy in elastic collisions. Students predict outcomes for different numbers of balls and for a double-mass ball, testing whether both conservation laws are satisfied …
Four black air track gliders arranged in two pairs on a green surface, with pin, wax cup, blade, and bumper attachments on their ends; two gliders have pink and green index card flags for visibility

Air Track Collisions

Air track gliders with interchangeable attachments demonstrate elastic and inelastic collisions. Students observe that momentum is conserved in both cases, while kinetic energy is conserved only in elastic collisions.
Two PASCO dynamics carts (one blue, one red) on an aluminum dynamics track, set up on a demonstration table in front of a chalkboard

Collision Carts

Demonstrates elastic and perfectly inelastic collisions using PASCO dynamics carts on a track. Magnetic bumpers produce near-perfect elastic collisions; Velcro surfaces produce perfectly inelastic collisions where the carts stick together.
Collision pendulum with aluminum vertical post, metal rod pivoting from top with dark ball attached, rectangular wooden block standing on a wooden base, second interchangeable ball in holder on the base

Collision Pendulum

Two visually identical balls with different internal damping properties strike a wooden block from a pendulum. The "happy" ball rebounds elastically and knocks the block over; the "sad" ball dissipates …
Orange basketball on a small cork ring and a tennis ball on a black rubber ring, both on a green floor
Safety

Basketball and Tennis Ball Collision

Balance a tennis ball on a basketball and drop both together. The tennis ball rebounds to roughly four times the drop height — a dramatic illustration of energy transfer in …