From:	Modeling - Modeling Workshop Teachers [MODELING@asu.edu] on behalf 
of Laura Rush [lrush1@WCPSS.NET]
Sent:	Saturday, March 21, 2009 5:19 PM
To:	MODELING@ASU.EDU
Subject:	Graphing Momentum

I just finished a workshop on the modeling momentum unit in physics.
During the workshop, my colleagues and I developed a graphing technique=

that seemed to work nicely when representing momentum in collisions.  T= he x 
axis represents mass and the y axis represents velocity.  Using bar gra= phs 
to represent car 1 and car 2, we calculated the area under each bar gra= ph as 
"momentum."  To discuss conservation, we graphed the initial and fin= al 
velocities.  Here is a public link to show an example of our graphing
method:

http://www.modelingteachers.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=3D466

We first used the method to represent an inelastic collision and then d= rew 
from the graphs the conservation of momentum.  We continued to use the 
graphing method to represent conservation in elastic collisions of different 
mass combinations.  The graph allows for both negative and positive 
velocities.

The visual representation made it so clear.  I hope it helps!

Laura L. Rush
Panther Creek High School
Cary, NC 27513
BTSP Coordinator
Physics & AP Physics B

=