Conservation of Linear Momentum Using Tracker Analysis: A Teaching Material

Abstract

This work reports an experimental technique specially designed and employed to comprehend and teach the conservation of linear momentum and to overcome instructional difficulties. The apparatus is mainly comprised of specifically designed corrugated inclined planes, two spherical solid balls, a video recorder and a computer with a video tracker analysis programme installed. The momentum measurements are achieved by recording the motion of the rolling bodies and resolving the motion by using the video tracker analyser. Both elastic and inelastic collisions are designed and estimated momentum values clearly justify the conservation of the momentum. The experimental results are also compared with the theoretical calculations, indicating a reasonably good agreement. The designed apparatus can be employed in basic physics laboratories, to achieve enhanced understanding of conservation of the linear momentum.