Discuss any systematic errors that might cause linear momentum to be not quite c

Question

Discuss any systematic errors that might cause linear momentum to be not quite conserved in our system. (This is essentially addressing why kinetic energy will not quite be conserved in the next question too.)

(Hint: There are potential systematic errors in measurements, as always, and keep a few things in mind when addressing the environmental systematic errors. No surface, even an air track, is truly frictionless, and the collision didn’t take place in a vacuum--you could even hear the two pucks colliding.... (Hint in the hint!: You should also note here that we are not considering the potential non- linear movements in the system. It might impress your grader if you actually examined your picture to see if any obvious spinning took place!))

Explanation / Answer

We consider all the surfaces to be perfectly smooth and frictionless. This is the main factor due to which momentum will not be conserved.

Momentum is conserved only till no external forces act on the system.

Momentum is not conserved if there is friction, gravity, or net force (net force just means the total amount of force). What it means is that if you act on an object, its momentum will change. This should be obvious, since you are adding to or taking away from the object's velocity and therefore changing its momentum.

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