PSI AP Physics 1

Momentum AP Style Free Response Name_______________________

1. Block 1 with a mass of 0.509 kg moves at a constant speed of 5.00 m/s on a

horizontal frictionless track and collides and sticks to stationary block 2 with a mass
of 1.50 kg. Block 2 is attached to an unstretched spring with a spring constant,
k = 200.0 N/m.

a. Calculate the momentum of block 1 before the collision.

b. Calculate the kinetic energy of block 1 before the collision.

c. Calculate the velocity of the system of two blocks after the collision.

d. Determine the kinetic energy of the system of two blocks after the collision. Is
mechanical energy conserved during the collision?

Yes No

Explain your answer.

e. Find the maximum compression of the spring.

f. How would the compression change if the mass of block 2 is increased before
the experiment?

Increase Decrease Stay the same

Explain your answer.

g. How would the compression change if the mass of block 1 is increased and
the initial velocity remains the same?

Increase Decrease Stay the same

Explain your answer.

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2. Two discs of masses m1 = 2.0 kg and m2 = 8.0 kg are placed on a horizontal
frictionless surface. Disc m1 moves at a constant speed of 8.0 m/s in the +x direction
and disc m2 is initially at rest. The collision of the two discs is elastic and the
directions of the two velocities are shown in the diagram.

Student A argues that the momentum is conserved in the x direction and not
conserved in the y direction since disk m1 has a velocity at a 90° angle to the y axis.

Student B argues that the momentum is conserved in the y direction and not
conserved in the x direction since disk m2, after collision, moves at a 30° angle from
the x axis.

a. Which aspects of Student A’s reasoning are correct? Explain your answer.

b. Which aspects of Student A’s reasoning are incorrect? Explain your answer.

c. Which aspects of Student B’s reasoning are correct? Explain your answer.

d. Which aspects of Student B’s reasoning are incorrect? Explain your answer.

e. What is the direction of the net momentum after the collision? Explain how
you arrived at your answer.

f. Calculate the final vector velocity of disc m1.

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 i ii iii

3. A piece of clay with mass mC moves with a constant speed, v0. The clay collides and
sticks to a sphere with a mass mS suspended at the end of a string.

a. Write the equation for the clay’s momentum before the collision.

b. Write the equation for the clay-ball system’s momentum after the collision in
terms of mC and vo. What law supports this answer?

c. At each point in the clay-ball system’s path, indicate whether mechanical

energy is conserved and explain your reasoning.

i) _____ conserved _____ not conserved

ii) _____ conserved _____ not conserved

iii) _____ conserved _____ not conserved

d. Instead of clay, a rubber ball with the same mass and initial velocity is thrown
at the hanging sphere, with the ball rebounding in the opposite direction of its
initial velocity, and the sphere moving to the right. In a clear, coherent
paragraph-length response that may also contain diagrams and/or equations,
compare the magnitude of the velocity of the sphere in the clay-sphere trial to
that of the rubber ball-sphere trial. Explain your reasoning.

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4. A bullet with mass mB and moving at a constant speed v0 collides with a wooden
block with mass mW, initially at rest. The surface of the table is frictionless, and is a
height h from the floor. After the collision, the bullet is embedded in the block. The
bullet-block system slides off the top of the table and strikes the floor.

a. Suppose the mass of the bullet is much smaller than the mass of the block.
Compare the magnitude of the velocity of the bullet before the collision and
block-bullet system after the collision. Briefly explain your reasoning without
deriving or using equations.

b. Write and solve the equation to find the velocity of the block-bullet system
after the collision.

c. Does your equation agree with your reasoning from part (a)? Explain.

d. Student A argues that the kinetic energy of the bullet is not conserved after it
strikes the block, but Student B argues that the kinetic energy of the bullet is
conserved after it strikes the block. Which student do you think is correct?
Explain your answer.

e. Derive an equation to determine the horizontal distance the bullet-block

system travels before striking the floor.

f. Now the table is not frictionless. How will this affect your answer from part
(d)? What can you do to reduce the effect of friction on the horizontal distance
travelled by the bullet-block?

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5. A force is applied on a 250g lab cart at rest. The cart starts moving along a straight
track. The graph describes the relationship between the force applied on the cart
over time. A student reasons that at t = 8 s, the cart must be moving in the opposite
direction of its initial push because during the 6 to 8 s time interval, the cart
experiences the greatest change in force. (Positive force is to the right, negative
force is to the left).

a. Which aspects of the student’s reasoning, if any, are correct? Explain how
you arrived at your answer.

b. Which aspects of the student’s reasoning, if any, are incorrect? Explain how
you arrived at your answer.

c. Describe how the force-time graph could be used to find the direction of the
cart’s velocity at t = 8 s.

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 d. Sketch a velocity-time graph for the cart from t = 0 to t = 8 s in the space
provided below. Clearly label all axes. Does this graph agree with the
students reasoning that the cart will be moving in the opposite direction at
t = 8 s? Explain.

e. Based on the graph, describe the cart’s motion for the entire 18 s. Indicate
when the car speeds up, slows down, moves right, or moves left. Does the
car ever come to a stop? Explain.

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6. A student reasons that when a small rubber ball, rolling with a velocity v and a mass
m, collides elastically into a much larger, stationary rubber ball with mass M, the
small rubber ball will come to a complete stop, and the larger rubber ball will roll
away with velocity v.

a. Do you agree with this student’s reasoning?

_____ Yes _____ No

Without using equations, explain why you agree or disagree.

b. In the space below, sketch a velocity-time graph of the smaller ball’s motion.
Clearly label and scale all axes.

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 c. In the space below, sketch velocity-time graph of the larger ball’s motion..
Clearly label and scale all axes.

d. Which ball, the larger or the smaller, experiences the greatest change in
momentum? Explain without using equations.

e. Which ball, the larger or the smaller, experiences more force during the
collision? Explain without using equations.

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7. Students in a lab would like to determine if their lab carts can collide and experience
an elastic collision. The students do not think that any collision will be perfectly
elastic but if the carts are not going too fast or too slow the mechanical energy loss
will be negligible.

a. Design an experiment to let the students test their idea.

i. What materials would be needed?

ii. What quantities would be measured?

iii. Describe your experimental setup and procedure. Include enough

detail that another student could follow and complete the experiment
successfully.

b. The students carry out the experiment and find out that the collisions seem to
be very close to elastic in some cases. How could have they decided which
speeds give them near elastic collisions? Explain your answer.

c. Now the students would like to confirm if momentum is conserved in these

collisions. How, if at all, does the setup need to be modified? What additional
data, if any, would need to be collected? Describe the experimental
procedure.

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8. Two spheres, of masses m and 3m, are dropped from a height of h1 as shown
above. They fall and the larger sphere hits the ground first and bounces back so that
the larger sphere and smaller sphere are traveling at the same speed in opposite
directions. The spheres collide in an elastic collision. After the collision, the larger
sphere stops and the smaller sphere bounces up with a speed of v1’.

a. Indicate whether the smaller sphere bounces to a height greater than, less
than, or equal to h1 after the collision.

_____ Greater than h1 _____ Less than h1 _____ Equal to h1

Explain how you arrived at your answer.

b. Consider the time interval from when the two spheres are released to when
the smaller sphere reaches its maximum height.

i. For the system consisting of the two spheres and Earth, indicate whether
the total mechanical energy increases, decreases, or stays the same.

_____ Increases _____ Decreases _____ Stays the same

Justify your answer.

ii. For the system consisting of only the two spheres, indicate whether the
total mechanical energy increases, decreases, or stays the same.

_____ Increases _____ Decreases _____ Stays the same

Justify your answer.

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Answers:

1.
𝑘𝑔⋅𝑚
a. 𝑝 = 𝑚𝑣 → 𝑝 = (0.509𝑘𝑔)(5.00 𝑚⁄𝑠) = 2.55 𝑠

1 1
b. 𝐾𝐸 = 2 𝑚𝑣 2 → 𝐾𝐸 = 2 (0.509𝑘𝑔)(5.00 𝑚⁄𝑠)2 = 6.36 𝐽
𝑚1 𝑣1
c. 𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 = 𝑝𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 → 𝑝1 + 𝑝2 = 𝑝1 ′ + 𝑝2 ′ → 𝑚1 𝑣1 + 0 = (𝑚1 + 𝑚2 )𝑣′ → 𝑣′ = 𝑚
1 + 𝑚2

(0.509𝑘𝑔)(5.00𝑚⁄𝑠) 𝑚
𝑣′ = (0.509 + 1.50)𝑘𝑔
= 1.27 𝑠

1 1
d. 𝐾𝐸𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 = 2 𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑣′2 → 𝐾𝐸 = 2 (0.509 + 1.50)𝑘𝑔(1.27 𝑚⁄𝑠)2 = 1.62 𝐽

No. Mechanical energy (the sum of kinetic energy and potential energy) is not
conserved during this collision because when the blocks collide, they stick
together in an inelastic collision and move. The initial KE is 6.36 J and the KE
after the collision is 1.62 J. The gravitational potential energy remains at 0 J.
The collision transfers mechanical energy into heat, sound and deformation of
the blocks.

e. At maximum spring compression, the velocity of the blocks is zero. By

Conservation of Energy, all the kinetic energy is transformed into elastic
1 2𝐾𝐸𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙
potential energy. 𝐾𝐸𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 = 𝐸𝑃𝐸 → 𝐾𝐸𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 = 2 𝑘𝑥 2 → 𝑥 = √ →𝑥=
𝑘

2(1.62𝐽)
√200.0𝑁⁄𝑚 = 0.13 𝑚
f. Decrease. The initial energy of the system is the same because block 1 does
not change mass or velocity. The compression decreases because the final
velocity of the block system decreases which decreases the final kinetic
energy. By Conservation of Energy, the elastic potential energy decreases,
so the compression decreases as well.
g. Increase. The compression would change because the maximum amount of
elastic potential energy that can be stored in the spring (yielding the
maximum compression of the spring) is determined by the final energy of
system. With a greater initial kinetic energy (the mass of block 1 is greater),
the final kinetic energy of the block system is also greater. The compression
increases because the final kinetic energy results in a greater elastic potential
energy.
2.
a. Student A is correct in saying that the disks’ horizontal momentum is
conserved, as no external force acts upon the system in the x-direction.
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 b. Student A is incorrect in saying that the disks’ vertical momentum is not
conserved. If there are no external forces acting on a system, then its
momentum is conserved in both directions, x and y. The system initial
momentum in the y direction is zero. After the collision, the negative y
momentum of disk m1 is equal to the positive y momentum of disk m2, so that
their sum is equal to zero.
c. Student B is correct in saying that the disks’ vertical momentum is conserved,
as no external force acts upon the system in the y direction.
d. Student B is incorrect in saying that the disks’ horizontal momentum is not
conserved. If there are no external forces acting on a system, then its
momentum is conserved in both directions, x and y. The system initial
momentum in the x direction is equal to m1v1, and the x component of disk m2
will equal m1v1, due to the conservation of momentum.
e. The direction of the final net momentum is totally in the +x direction. Due to
the laws of conservation of momentum, the net momentum of the system
remains the same before and after the collision. After the collision, the
momentum will be totally in the +x direction.
f. Because the horizontal component of disk 2’s final momentum should equal
the initial momentum of disk 1:

𝑚1 𝑣1𝑥 (2.0)(8.0) 𝑚
𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 = 𝑝𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 → 𝑝1 = 𝑝2𝑥 ′ → 𝑚1 𝑣1 = 𝑚2 𝑣2𝑥 ′ → 𝑣2𝑥 ′ = = = 2.0
𝑚2 (8.0) 𝑠

Find the vertical component of the velocity of disk 2:

𝑣2𝑦 ′ 𝑚
𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃 = → 𝑣2𝑦 ′ = 𝑣2𝑥 ′𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃 = 2.0𝑡𝑎𝑛(30°) = 1.2
𝑣2𝑥 ′ 𝑠

Due to the law of conservation of momentum, the vertical component of disk 2’s
momentum must be equal and opposite the vertical momentum of disk 1:

𝑚2 𝑣2𝑦 ′ (8.0)(1.2)
𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 = 𝑝𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 → 𝑝1 ′ = 𝑝2𝑦 ′ → 𝑚1 𝑣1 ′ = 𝑚2 𝑣2𝑦 ′ → 𝑣1 ′ = =
𝑚1 (2.0)
𝑚
= 4.8
𝑠

3.
a. 𝑝 = 𝑚𝑐 𝑣0
b. Law of Conservation of Momentum: 𝑝 = 𝑚𝑐 𝑣0

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 c.
i.Mechanical energy is conserved as there is no external force acting
on the clay as it moves in a straight line.
ii. Mechanical energy is not conserved when the clay collides with the
ball; some of its kinetic energy transformed to thermal and sound
energy and deformation of the clay.
iii. Mechanical energy is conserved when the clay-ball system reaches
the top of their swing. The kinetic energy is transformed completely
into gravitational potential energy, but there are no external forces
acting on the clay-ball system. The gravitational force is accounted for
in the gravitational potential energy.
d. The velocity of the sphere in the clay-sphere trial will be smaller than the
velocity of the sphere in the rubber ball-sphere trial. Let m = mclay = mball, since
both masses are the same.
𝑚𝑣0
Clay-Sphere Trial: 𝑝0 = 𝑝𝑓 → 𝑚𝑣0 = (𝑚𝑠 + 𝑚)𝑣𝑠′ → 𝑣𝑐𝑠
′
= (𝑚
𝑠 + 𝑚)

𝑚𝑣0 + 𝑚𝑣𝑏′
Rubber Ball-Sphere Trial: 𝑝0 = 𝑝𝑓 → 𝑚𝑣0 = 𝑚𝑠 𝑣𝑠′ − 𝑚𝑣𝑏′ → 𝑣𝑠′ = 𝑚𝑠

The equations show that the velocity of the clay sphere is less since it’s
numerator is smaller and the denominator is greater. For the ball-sphere
collision, the rebounding ball imparts a greater momentum to the sphere. The
greater mass of the clay-sphere system also decreases its momentum.

4.
a. Conservation of momentum is used when there are no external forces. If the
bullet is traveling at a high velocity, and then lodges within a much larger
mass, the system moves at a slower velocity as it has a greater mass.
𝑚 𝑣
b. 𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 = 𝑝𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 → 𝑚𝑏 𝑣0 = (𝑚𝑏 + 𝑚𝑤 )𝑣 ′ → 𝑣 ′ = (𝑚 +𝑏 𝑚0 )
𝑏 𝑤
c. Yes. Throughout the interaction, the momentum of the system remains
constant. Before the collision, the velocity of the ball is very high (𝑣0 ), giving it
a momentum 𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 . After the collision, the block and the bullet move
together as one system, greatly increasing the mass which is being moved by
the momentum of the system. The final velocity of the system is effectively
𝑝
made (𝑚 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 , showing how the velocity of the bullet has decreased by a
+𝑚 )
𝑏 𝑤
factor of (𝑚𝑏 + 𝑚𝑤 ).
d. Student A is correct, recognizing that the collision is inelastic. When the bullet
embeds itself within the block, the friction that stops the bullet inside the wood
turns some of the bullet’s kinetic energy into thermal energy, heating up the
block, and decreasing the system’s kinetic energy.
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 e. This problem has now become a 2D kinematics question:

1 1 2ℎ
𝑦 = 𝑦0 + 𝑣0𝑦 𝑡 + 2 𝑎𝑦 𝑡 2 → 0 = ℎ + 0 − 2 𝑔𝑡 2 → 𝑡 = √ 𝑔

1 𝑚𝑏 𝑣0 𝑚𝑏 𝑣0 𝑡 𝑚𝑏 𝑣0 2ℎ
𝑥 = 𝑥0 + 𝑣0𝑥 𝑡 + 2 𝑎𝑥 𝑡 2 → 𝑥 = 0 + (𝑚 𝑡 + 0 → 𝑥 = (𝑚 = (𝑚 √𝑔
𝑏 + 𝑚𝑤 ) 𝑏 + 𝑚𝑤 ) 𝑏 + 𝑚𝑤 )

f. The answer to part d remains the same, but it is now even more true. With
friction present on the table as well as between the bullet and the block, an
external force now acts upon the system, turning the system’s kinetic energy
into more unusable thermal energy. This removes more energy from the
system, meaning that kinetic energy is still not conserved. To decrease the
effects of friction on the energy of the system, a coating of oil can be applied
to the path down which the system slides, as this would decrease the
coefficient of kinetic friction holding the block back as it slides.
5.
a. The student is correct in saying that between the times t = 6 s and t = 8 s, the
lab cart experiences the greatest change in force. This can be determined by
analyzing the graph, and seeing that on this interval, the graph is decreasing
with the greatest slope in the whole 18 s. The force decreases in the positive
direction, and then the direction of the force changes and starts increasing in
magnitude.
b. The student is incorrect in saying that the cart must be moving in the opposite
direction of the initial push, as the cart’s momentum would still be acting in the
positive direction. Impulse is force exerted over a period of time. Impulse
equals the area under the graph. Since there is more positive area than
negative area under the graph on the interval from time t = 0 s to t = 8 s, the
cart has momentum in the positive direction.
c. Impulse (change in momentum) is measured as the area under the force time
graph. To find the momentum at time t = 8 s, add up the total area between
the graph and the x-axis for this time interval. Treat area above the x-axis as
positive momentum and area below the x-axis as negative momentum. If the
net momentum is positive t by time t = 8 s, then the cart is moving in the
positive direction. If the net momentum is negative, then the cart is moving in
the negative direction.

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 d.

This graph does not support the student’s initial conjecture, as the cart’s
velocity is clearly positive during the entire 8 s interval. Although the force
becomes negative after 6 s, causing the velocity of the cart to decrease, the
residual momentum of the first 6 s of positive acceleration will prevent the cart
from moving backwards in the time frame.

e. During the first 2 s, the cart is speeding up towards the right with increasing
acceleration. Then, it continues to the right at a constant acceleration from 2 s
to 6 s. From 6 s to 8 s, the cart still moves towards the right, but it begins
slowing down, with a decreasing acceleration. From 8 s to 10 s, the cart is
experiencing a constant negative acceleration, but it is still moving to the
right. From 10 s to 18 s, the cart has a decreasing negative acceleration, so
somewhere on this interval the cart must begin moving to the left (because
the negative area will be greater than the positive area under the graph). The
cart’s velocity will reach zero somewhere on this interval, then continue
moving left until time t = 18 s.
6.
a. No. If the small ball collides with another, much larger ball, due to the law of
conservation of momentum, the larger ball must have a much smaller
velocity, for its final momentum to equal the initial momentum of the small

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 ball. In this case, for an elastic collision, the small moving ball will bounce off
with the same speed in the opposite direction. The heavy ball won’t move at
all. For the moving ball to stop and the stationary ball to move with the
velocity of the moving ball, and elastic collision of identical masses is
required.
b.

c.

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 d. The smaller ball experiences the greatest change in momentum. Because it
initially has a positive momentum p, and after bouncing off of the much larger
ball it attains an equal and opposite momentum -p, its total impulse has been
2p, whereas because the larger ball doesn’t move, it undergoes zero impulse.
e. Due to Newton’s third law of motion, every action has an equal and opposite
reaction. If the small ball experiences a force F, the larger ball, experience an
equal and opposite force -F. The large ball doesn’t move because of its large
mass, so its acceleration is very small.
7.
a.
i. 2 identical carts with repulsive magnets on one side, a frictionless
track, a scale, and two motion sensors.
ii. The mass of each cart, the initial velocity of each cart, and the final
velocity of each cart.
iii. First weigh both carts. Next, place them at opposite ends of the tracks
with the magnets facing each other. Then gently push the carts
towards each other and record the velocity using the sensors. Finally,
after the carts have collided, record their final velocities.
b. Determine which speeds give you near elastic collisions by finding the total
initial energy (from KE = ½ mv2) and comparing it to the energy after the
collision. If they are equal, then it is elastic. The total energy will be entirely
kinetic energy since the carts to not change their height above the ground. So
if the total energy is the same, that means the kinetic energy was conserved
and the collision is elastic.
c. Using the same velocity calculated in part (a iii) as measured by the motion
sensors, find the initial momentum and calculate the final momentum. The
setup of the experiment should be the same. Make sure that the carts have
the repulsive magnets on one side. Use the same materials to find the same
values. But instead of using the energy equations, use the momentum
equations (m1v1 + m2v2 = m1v1’ + m2v2’) to answer the question.

8.
a. Greater than ℎ1 . Since the large sphere stops moving, the small sphere
bounces up with a greater velocity (conservation of momentum) as it needs to
account for the momentum lost by the large sphere. Due to the conservation
of energy, the new height the sphere bounces to will be greater than ℎ1 . The
1 𝑣2
new height will be 𝑚𝑔ℎ′ = 2 𝑚𝑣12 → ℎ′ = 2𝑔1 .

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 b.
i. Stays the same. Since the collision is an elastic collision, kinetic
energy is conserved, so no mechanical energy is lost. It is transformed
from kinetic energy into gravitational potential energy as it moves
upwards.
ii. Stays the same. For this case, the system definition does not give a
different result for the mechanical energy conservation. Since the
collision is an elastic collision, kinetic energy is conserved, so no
mechanical energy is lost. It is transformed from kinetic energy into
gravitational potential energy as it moves upwards.

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