Question:

What is the firing speed of the ballistic pendulum?

Data:

Effective mass of the catching mechanism is .116 kg.

Mass of ball is .0687 kg.

                Height is .11 m

Data Analysis:

                PE of catching mechanism and ball final = mgh = (.1847)(9.8)(.11) = .1991

                PE final = KE initial

                .1991 = ½(m) (v^2) = ½(.1847) (v^2)

                V = 1.468

Conclusion:

                At first I started to calculate the PE in grams and cm and then realized I must convert the units to kg and meters.  My next problem was when determining the KE deciding whether to use the mass of just the ball or the mass of the ball and catching mechanism.  I then found out to use the mass of the ball and catching mechanism and found the velocity.

Describe an experiment that you could conduct to test your calculator:

                Shoot the ball straight without a catching mechanism and calculate time and distance to solve for the velocity.