Question

You’re conducting an experiment on inelastic collisions between a cart and a bumper at the end of the track that the cart is on. The cart has a mass of 0.100(1) kg. Two photogates are mounted on the track a distance of 0.200(2) m apart. As the cart rolls down the track, it takes 0.120(1) s to pass through the pair of photogates. The cart bounces off the bumper and rolls back through the photogates, this time taking 0.147(1) s.

(a) Calculate the kinetic energy (with uncertainty) lost in the collision.

(b) Provide an error budget for your calculation.

Answer 1