Inertia of Motion - Air Track & Homer

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 Code Number :   1F30.30  

Disclaimer:

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

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Condition :   Excellent  
Principle :   Inertia of Motion 
Area of Study :  Mechanics
Equipment :   Air track, Platform Car, Passengers for car. 
Procedure :   Place one of the passengers on the air track platform cart.  Push them toward one end of the air track.  When the cart hits the end of the air track, the cart will bounce back, but the passenger (Homer or Bart) will continue in the initial direction, fly off the cart and over the end of the air track. 

A variation of this is to use one of the jumping passengers.  As long as the cart is moving uniformly, the figure will jump up and down while remaining on the cart.  When the cart hits the end of the air track, the figure will fly off the cart and over the end of the air track in the same manner as the above example.

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   References
 


Mark A. Ilyes and James M. Filizzi, "Pizza Boy vs the Highway Department," TPT, Vol. 43, No. 7, pp. 434-437, October 2005.

 



Mail Questions and Comments to:  Dale Stille