Objective:
– To demonstrate the coefficient of restitution (how the collision differs depending on its level of elasticity).
Apparatus:
- Lab riser
- Short and long wooden blocks
- Tall stand
- 90-degree clamp
- Channel (grooved ramp for ball to roll down)
- High-elasticity ball
- Low-elasticity ball
Method:
If you release two balls of the same mass from the same height, the high elasticity ball imparts a bigger impulse to whatever it collides with. This difference can be stark: the high elasticity ball makes a block fall down, and the low elasticity ball doesn’t. This seems counterintuitive: most students generally think the low elasticity ball will have a bigger effect.
“Elastic/Inelastic collision Demonstration” – Video Created by punaphysics.