Abstract:

The study of collisions among two or more bodies has a great impact in several scientific fields such as Nuclear Physics, kinematical analysis or chemical reactions. Consequently, it is considered an important topic to be studied in all General Physics courses. The use of multimedia tools to visualize different kinds of collisions (elastic, inelastic and partially elastic) helps the students to understand the behaviour of the bodies more easily than using traditional methods.

Here, we focus on the linear momentum conservation presenting a virtual laboratory (developed using the tool “Easy Java Simulations”) for the visualization of the collision between two bodies in different regimes: elastic, inelastic and partially inelastic. In these three cases, the user can vary the mass of both objects providing a real time visualization of how this change affects to the final behaviour. The objects are on a rule, which indicates their position at every moment, whereas a chronometer gives the possibility to calculate the speed before and after the collision. In the particular case of the partially inelastic regime, the values obtained in the collision simulation allow the students to calculate the coefficient of restitution. In order to increase the audience, these virtual laboratories offer the possibility of changing the language between Spanish, Valencian and English.

Keywords:

Virtual laboratory, Physics, Easy Java, linear momentum, collision.