PASCO ME-6815 PROJECTILE CATCHER ACCESSORY - Manual (Page 17)

012-05091E Projectile Catcher Accessory
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Procedure
1. Find the mass of the steel ball and the mass of the cart with catcher. Record in Table 2.3.
2. Put the ball into the Projectile Launcher and cock it to the long range position. Put the cart
on the track directly in front of and as close as possible to the photogate bracket on the
Launcher.
3. Shoot the ball three times and take the average of these times. Record in Table 2.1 or Table
2.2, depending on which timing mode is being used.
Analysis
1. Use a distance (between the photogates on the Launcher) of 10 cm to calculate the initial
speed of the ball and record it in Table 2.3.
2. Calculate the final speed of the cart. If the Gate-Pulse mode was used, the distance for the
cart is 4 cm, the length of the flag that blocked the third photogate. If the Motion Timer
mode was used, the distance is 5 cm, the distance from leading edge to leading edge.
Record the final speed in Table 2.3.
3. Calculate the initial and final momentum and record in Table 2.3.
4. Calculate the percent difference between the initial and final momentum. Record in Table
2.3.
Trial Number
1
2
3
Average Time
Time Between
Gates 1 and 2
Time Gate 3 is
Blocked
Table 2.1: Timing Data Using Gate-Pulse Mode
Table 2.3: Results
Trial Number
1
2
3
Average Time
Time Between
Gates 1 and 2
Time Between
Blockings of Gate 3
Table 2.2: Timing Data Using Motion Timer
Initial
Speed
Momentum
Kinetic Energy
Final % Difference