Question

So I need someone who already knows what should happen with this to just confirm or not if my data is faulty.

So in a lab I had two air gliders on a frictionless, level track, one was stationary with a rubberband elastic contraption on the back of it where a moving glider would collide into it. For the part I'm iffy on, the mass of the stationary glider (0.2012kg) and the moving glider(0.3895) were kept constant while the initial velocity of the moving glider was altered.

So, I'm suppose to graph this section and determine the relationship between the initial velocity of the moving glider, and the final velocity of the moving glider. What i found has no relationship at all.

Velocity of moving glider in m/s:

1 initial: 0.2574

1:final:.07748

2:initial:.271

2:final:.06806

3:initial:.3013

3:final:.1324

4:initial:.4875

4:final:.02713

5:initial:.5644

5:final:.1766

Needless to say there is no relationship at all if i plot this but just in case it helps to visualize: http://i.imgur.com/tXbfJ1R.png

Velocity of the stationary glider after the collision (m/s):

1: 0.3375

2: 0.6633

3: 0.5570

4: 0.3179

5: 0.4471

Answer 1

Your data is correct and the relationship between initial and final velocity can be determined with the help of the theoretical equations. So:

    (moving glider)

(stationary glider)

By the conservation of linear momentum:

Isolating we have:

Replacing values for masses:

This equation represents the relationship between the initial and final velocity of the moving glider

Where:

   final velocity of the moving glider

    initial velocity of the moving glider

   final velocity of the "stationary " glider

THEREFORE, you have to take into account the masses and the velocity of the stationary glider.