Ballistic Pendulum and Conservation of Momentum

1.0 Abstract In this paper, we aim to validate one the most important and frequently used tools of physics: the law of conservation of momentum. We do so by comparing results from two experiments conducted with a single ballistic launcher/pendulum apparatus. In the first, we use kinematics methods alone to determine a mean initial velocity for a projectile. In the second, we add a ballistic pendulum and derive a projectile velocity using conservation of momentum and energy principles. Our results show momentum and kinematics methods yield highly accurate, nearly identical, results with sigma values within 1.1% and 1.7% of each mean velocity (respectively).