Questions

1) Given the individual calculations on percent difference, what would appear to be a reasonable percent difference for this experiment

2) In data analysis, there is a condition known as ‘the problem of small
denominators’. You may have noticed that the percent error was noticeably
larger when the initial and final momenta were small in magnitude. Why
was that?

3) You should have noticed that for Trial 3, a perfectly elastic collision between
two cars of equal mass with one car at rest, the first car came to a complete
stop. Given that perfectly elastic collisions conserve both momentum and
kinetic energy, why is this fact both reasonable and necessary?

4) How does this experiment demonstrate that the vector direction of
momentum – represented here as a plus or minus sign – is very important
when considering momentum conservation? For example, by how much
might the percent difference change if you forgot to make a velocity of a car
and therefore the momentum negative when it was supposed to be in one of
your trials?