Property of Inertia - Air Track


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 Code Number :   1D60.12

Disclaimer:

Reprinted by permission of Dick Berg, University of Maryland, for use on this website.

The demonstrations contained and referenced herein are listed for the purposes of cataloging and describing physics demonstrations which should be conducted only under the direction of a trained instructional support professional or physicist. These demonstrations are not presented for the purpose of being conducted by persons unconnected to this Facility and/or persons not consulting with or being supervised by the recognized instructional support professional or physicist and his/her staff. The University is responsible only for those demonstrations carried out using its own equipment using established safety and scheduling policies, and bears no responsibility for those choosing to use this source material for their own purposes. All demonstrations described and contained herein are public domain, and can also be found in reference materials in libraries, bookstores, and electronic sources.

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Condition :   Good  
Principle :   Inertia  
Area of Study :  Mechanics   
Equipment :   Air track, Air track car with flat platform, Homer, Bart, Pluto, or Daffy figures, Jumping Mouse or Kangaroo.
Procedure :   Place the figure on the air car and push toward the end of the track.  When the car bounces off the end of the track the figure that was riding on the car will continue in it original direction and fly off and over the end of the car and air track.  

Wind up the jumping figure of choice.  Place it on the car and push it toward the end of the track.  Notice that the figure will jump up and down and still land on the car until the car bounces off the end of the air track.  

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   References

"Head Over Heels - A Fun Physics Frog", TPT, Vol. 27, # 6, Sept. 1989, p. 481.



Mail Questions and Comments to:  Dale Stille