Newton's Cradle

DCS Code: 1N30.10 Last Updated: March 27, 2026
Log in to reserve this demo

Purpose

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 simultaneously.

Large Newton's cradle with nine black billiard balls on bifilar suspension from a gray metal frame, mounted on a wooden base
Figure 1: Large-scale Newton's cradle using billiard balls on bifilar (two-wire) suspension. One ball (stored separately) has extra weights to double its mass for exploring unequal-mass collisions.