Question

some students conduct an experiment to prove conservation of momentum. they use two objects that collide. measurements are taken before and after the collision. which two quantities will the students multiply together before and after the collision?(1 point) responses mass and velocity mass and velocity distance and time distance and time velocity and time velocity and time mass and acceleration

Answer 1

To prove conservation of momentum, students should multiply mass and velocity, since these quantities calculate an object's momentum, which should be conserved in a closed system after a collision.

Step-by-step explanation:

When conducting an experiment to prove conservation of momentum, students should multiply mass and velocity together before and after the collision. These two quantities together give the momentum of an object (or system of objects). The principle behind this is that in a closed system, where no external forces are acting, the total momentum before and after a collision remains constant. This is true for both elastic and inelastic collisions.

However, the type of collision will affect whether kinetic energy is also conserved. In elastic collisions, both momentum and kinetic energy are conserved, while in inelastic collisions, kinetic energy is not conserved, but momentum still is. To investigate the conservation of momentum, one would record the mass and velocity of the colliding objects before and after the collision to calculate their momenta and verify whether they are indeed conserved.