3B Scientific Set of 6 Steel Balls User Manual

3B SCIENTIFIC® PHYSICS

U15014 Set of six steel balls

Instruction sheet

3/03 ALF

®

Steel balls suitable for experiments on elastic and inelas­tic collisions on a slide rail.

1. Description, technical data

Set of 6 hardened and polished steel ball bearings.
Diameter: 30 mm each
Weight: 110 g each

2. Instructions for use

• Experiment is set up on a metal slide rail (e. g. U17150)
or using 2 stands (U15004) on stand components.

• Track or stands should be adjusted to the horizontal
using a spirit level. Fine adjustment can be achieved
using the screws on the stand base.

2.1 Elastic collisions

• Roll one ball with various degrees of strength against

another stationary ball.

• Observe the speeds of the balls before and after

impact. (The stationary ball moves away at the same

speed while the impacting ball comes to rest. Mo­mentum is transferred completely from one ball to
the other.)

2.2 Inelastic collisions

• Attach sticky tape to a stationary ball to ensure that
a collision will be inelastic.

• Roll one ball with various degrees of strength against
the stationary ball.

• Observe the speeds of the balls before and after
impact. (After impact, both balls move at approxi­mately half the original speed of the impacting ball
before the collision.)

2.3 Several balls

• Roll one ball into 5 other balls that are touching one
another.

• Observe the speed of all the balls after an elastic
collision.

• Repeat the experiment with 2 (3) balls rolling one
behind the other into 4(3) stationary balls that are
touching one another.

3B Scientific GmbH • Rudorffweg 8 • 21031 Hamburg • Germany • www.3bscientific.com • Technical amendments are possible

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