Smart Cart Dynamics Systems
A collection of mechanics labs for use with the Smart Cart Dynamics Systems.
Grade Level: Advanced Placement • College • High School
Subject: Physics
Activities
01) Average Speed and Velocity
Use a Smart Cart to graph position versus time. Use the data to compare average speed and velocity to instantaneous velocity.
02) Graphing Motion
How is the shape of an object’s position-time, velocity-time, and acceleration-time graph related to its motion? Experimentally determine the relationships between a cart’s position-time, velocity-time, and acceleration-time graphs as the cart experiences constant velocity and constant acceleration, both positive and negative.
03) Speed and Velocity Graphs
Use a Smart Cart to perform a conceptual exploration of graphs of speed versus velocity.
04) Conservation of Energy
How does the mechanical energy of a cart change as its motion changes due to gravity? Perform an experiment that explores how a cart's kinetic energy, gravitational potential energy, and total mechanical energy change as it rolls up and down an inclined track under the force of gravity.
05) Work and Kinetic Energy
How is the work done on an object by a force related to the change in that object's kinetic energy? Investigate the relationship between the change in kinetic energy of an object experiencing a non-zero net force, and the work done by that net force on the object. Establish a measurement-based relationship between work and kinetic energy.
06) Conservation of Momentum
How is the momentum and kinetic energy of a two-object system affected by a collision? Experimentally demonstrate that linear momentum and kinetic energy are conserved in an elastic collision, and that linear momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not conserved in an inelastic collision.
07) Momentum and Explosions
How is the total momentum of a two-object system affected by an explosion? Experimentally determine if linear momentum is conserved in a system that experiences an explosion.
08) Momentum and Impulse
How is the impulse imparted to an object in a collision related to the change in momentum of the object? Investigate the relationship between the change in momentum of a cart undergoing a collision and the impulse imparted to the cart to change its momentum. Establish a measurement-based relationship between the change in momentum and the impulse.
