Task instructions:
SOCIETAL ISSUE: Read the Airbag article. (https://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/safety-regulatory-devices/airbag.htm) Write an essay about the Physics behind Airbags, what makes them work, etc. Use the words momentum, impulse, conservation of momentum and your other vocabulary words to write your essay. Be detailed and use equations to strengthen your points. (write this for one and half pages.)
A popular “executive office toy” consists of five balls hanging from a frame by strings and forming a straight line. It is also called a “NEWTON’S CRADLE.” When one ball is pulled out and released, it hits the others and one ball bounces out the other side. When this is repeated with two balls, two balls bounce out. With three, three bounce out, etc.
Questions:
1) Why is it always the same number of balls?
2) If we drop one ball, why don’t two balls come out, each with half the velocity? After all, this would conserve momentum or would it? Try this at home or at your local store. Answer the questions and send to me.