Pasco Pop-Up Cart

PIRA: 1D60.10

Overview:

Forces acting on an object in motion only change its motion in the direction of the force. When a force is applied upwards to a ball that is already traveling sideways on a cart, the ball will still fall right back into the cart since there is no force opposing the sideways motion (neglecting air friction).

Materials:

PASCO pop-up cart, a ball, PASCO track, box with a “tunnel” in it, and a bar that can be mounted to the side of the track.

Setup:

Place the PASCO track onto the table it will use for the demonstration. Make sure that the track is level. Place the bar onto the track. Place the cart onto the track and the ball into the cart. Place the tunnel over the track. The bar needs to be a few inches away from the tunnel towards the track. Turn on the pop-up cart. Push the cart into the tunnel and adjust the bar so that the ball will travel over the tunnel and back into the cart.

How To:

Push the cart and let go before the photogate is tripped. If setup is done correctly, the ball will shoot up and over the tunnel, landing back into the cart.

Safety:

Do not launch the ball unless it is on the track. Do not place anything over the cart when the ball shoots out.