Collisions Demo: Two Carts

This is a demonstration of elastic and perfectly inelastic collisions, using two carts on a track.

This demonstration was created at Utah State University by Professor Boyd F. Edwards, assisted by James Coburn (demonstration specialist), David Evans (videography), and Rebecca Whitney (closed captions), with support from Jan Sojka, Physics Department Head, and Robert Wagner, Executive Vice Provost and Dean of Academic and Instructional Services.

[mengjoneville]

This is so nice and practical you know. I really appreciate the knowledge. Thank you so much Prof.

[kamaltiwari]

Really gave me confidence to clearly distinguish between the three types of collisions...Now, I no more need 2 minutes of time during an exam to figure out what X/Y/Z collision is and etcetera..
Lucid and well-explained demonstration..
Thanks sir!

[dibakarpal]

Thank you sir for this beautiful demonstration

[rjmurphyo]

thanks I'm taking conceptual physics and this helped me understand what is going on

[gracepancalstatela]

Can I use this for my students? We all are quarantined in houses. Your demonstration can help them understand the concept. Thanks!

[Paillaabhishek]

Thank you very much sir physics is love 💖 so I understood the concept very well continue like this only sir.

[MisterBlizzardTV]

Where do you buy a kit like this? I have found others, but I really like this one.

[PassportReasons]

I have a question, sometimes I notice objects "bouncing off" of one another. And I have been under the impression when objects hit one another, some of the energy of the moving object is reflected back on it. "Equal and opposite reaction", yet I see your experiment and I am not observing that. Why?

[victormaxwellpeters]

Dear Professor,
There is a question which is iching my taught since many days, that why speed of sound is constant??? Even though sound propagate by means of elastic collisions between molicules, speed of sound should depend upon the speed of molecules near the source of sound.

[mouryayanamadala]

It’s strange to use magnets to create perfectly elastic 💥 collisions