When dealing with the conservation of momentum we rarely get past two particle problems, so the statement that for a system of isolated bodies the total momentum is constant, is acceptable for two bodies, but seems a bit of a leap to extend this to a large number of bodies. I know Algodoo is a simulation so of course obeys the laws of physics but it's useful to see what collisions look like when the rules are followed. Here I have made a collision between one ball and two others, the "show momentum" option has been ticked for all 3 balls so the momentum vectors are displayed. I then copy the before and after images into a Notebook file, this is the SMARTboard software and use the drawing tool to make copies of the momentum vectors to show that momentum is conserved. I am starting to show more and more demos, simulated and real, to my students in the hope that they will form the seeds for IA investigation ideas.
When dealing with the conservation of momentum we rarely get past two particle problems, so the statement that for a system of isolated bodies the total momentum is constant, is acceptable for two bodies, but seems a bit of a leap to extend this to a large number of bodies. I know Algodoo is a simulation so of course obeys the laws of physics but it's useful to see what collisions look like when the rules are followed. Here I have made a collision between one ball and two others, the "show momentum" option has been ticked for all 3 balls so the momentum vectors are displayed. I then copy the before and after images into a Notebook file, this is the SMARTboard software and use the drawing tool to make copies of the momentum vectors to show that momentum is conserved. I am starting to show more and more demos, simulated and real, to my students in the hope that they will form the seeds for IA investigation ideas.