Impulse Lab

Impulse: A change in momentum 
                      J=P(after)-P(before)
Big Question: 
What is the relationship between impulse, force, and time during a collision?

For this lab, we used a cart and performed a collision. First we attached our force probe to the LoggerPro and attached one sonic range finder to the LoggerPro. We then zeroed out the force probe and collected our data. We measured the force during the collision and also used the sonic range finders to record the velocity of the carts.  We found the momentum for before and after the collision, as well as finding the velocities. Using these things, we were able to find the impulse of the cart. 

Our whiteboard from after the lab displaying our graphs and the equations we derived

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 The impulse value is very similar to the value of the area underneath our graph. We were able to say that J=FT. This video explains the concept very well.

Real world connection:
In baseball, one of the most important parts of a hitter's swing is the follow through. High speed cameras have shown that the follow through of a hitter's swing increases the time in which the collision occurs. By increasing the time, the change in velocity is also increased due to the equation J=FT.