Resumen de Discrepant results in a 2-D marble collision
Video analysis of 2-D collisions is an excellent way to investigate conservation of linear momentum. The often-desired experimental design goal is to minimize the momentum loss in order to demonstrate the conservation law. An air table with colliding pucks is an ideal medium for this experiment, but such equipment is beyond the budget of many schools. Substituting marbles on a table for air pucks introduces angular momentum and sliding friction so that simple video analysis will demonstrate that linear momentum is not conserved.1,2 Nevertheless, these labs offer students insights into the real-world application of physics. During a recent classroom trial, an unexpected result forced my students to think creatively and critically about what happened in the experiment.
