How do law enforcement officers determine the strength of an explosion based on the movement of objects around the point of origin? Scholars inspect the relative mass and velocities of two cars before and after an explosion. They perform...

How do police determine the speed of a car that has hit a stopped vehicle? Scholars determine the momentum of the car system both before and after a collision. They identify instances where the law of conservation of momentum appears to...

Is the transfer of energy different in bumper cars with stable versus bouncy bumpers? One of the variables explored in the simulation is bumper type; other variables are the mass and velocity of each car. This allows pupils to see the...

Is momentum conserved in a collision, along with energy, or are they opposing forces? Pupils vary the mass and velocity of two bumper cars along with the type of bumper in order to answer this question. Worksheet and in-simulator...

How did scientists measure the speed of incredibly fast things before the invention of high-speed photography? Scholars virtually perform ballistics tests to discover the process. They control the rifle type, bullet mass, and target...

Why do planets orbit the sun in ellipses when moons orbit their planet in circles? Pupils control the semi-major axis, eccentricity of the orbit, and position angle. The resulting orbital appears with the related force vectors as...

[Free Registration/Login Required] The Law of Conservation of Momentum states that the total momentum before the crash is equal to the total momentum after the crash. Use the red dots to adjust the speed of each car at they head straight...

View a simulation that shows the reaction to a cart on wheels carrying a swinging pendulum.

In this interactive activity adapted from Wake Forest University, students will observe the effect of mass on velocity and momentum in elastic and inelastic collisions. Includes background reading, a student handout, and discussion...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Practice with the concepts of conservation of momentum and energy by analyzing a special case of the ballistic pendulum.

The interactive simulation demonstrates the conservation of momentum through a Newton?s Cradle simulation.

[Free Registration/Login Required] Understand angular momentum conservation in the absence of an applied torque in the context of planetary orbits using this interactive simulation. A PDF worksheet and a video tutorial are also...