MTM Challenge

MTM Challenge

Determine the mass of the unknown object in the cart.

First, we determined that the mass of the cart was 0.488 kg. We decided that, in order to predict the mass of the object, we had to divide momentum by velocity and then subtract that from the mass of the cart.
We needed to find the momentum and velocity, first.

We recorded the velocity of the cart and, after a few trials on the track with the cart, we determined that, without the object on top, the average cart's velocity was .524 m/s.
With the object, the average velocity was -.282 m/s.

We used the Law of Conservation of Momentum to plug in our data.

mava + mbvb = (ma + mb)vab
(0.488)(0.524) + mb(-.282) = 0
0.255712 + mb(-.282) = 0

mb = 0.907

If we subtract the mass of the cart from mb, we can find the mass of the unknown object.

0.907 - 0.488 = 0.419kg

So, we predict that the mass of the unknown object is 0.419kg!