INVESTIGATORY PROJECT ON

NEWTON’S CRADLE

Submitted to:
CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

(Academic Year: 2022-2023)

By
B. SOUJANEYA
Reg. No.

Under the guidance of

Mr. NAVANEET KUMAR
(Physcis Faculty)

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY
SENTHIL PUBLIC SCHOOL
(Affiliated to CBSE, New Delhi, Affiliation No: 1930323)
Jagirammapalayam , Salem-636302.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am here over helmed in all humbleness and gratefulness to acknowledge my depth to

all those who have help me to put these ideas, well above the level of simplicity and into
something concrete.

I would like to place and record my heartfelt gratitude to my Revered and

renowned Research Supervisor, Dr. T.VINODHKUMAR, Academic Coordinator,
Senthil public School, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India. His constant support, encouragements
and guidance throughout my research periods have played a vital role in my scientific
pursuit. This helped me immensely to throw great insight to address my research issue. He
gave me the liberty of planning and executing the research work. His energy and
enthusiasm have developed my own passion for research and I am truly grateful for his
guidance and encouragements.

I express my sincere and heartfelt thanks to our Senior Principal Mr. C.Srinivasan and our
Principal Dr. V.Manoharan and our Academic Coordinator Dr. Vinodh and our
Academic Coordinator Mr. Arumugom, Senthil Public School, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India,
who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project work.

I would like to thank our lab in charge Mrs.Hemala Devi

I would like to thank my parents and siblings’ who helped me a lot in gathering different
information, collecting data and guiding me from time to time in making this project,
despite of their busy schedules, they gave me different ideas in making this project
unique.

(B. SOUJANEYA)
S. NO TITLE PAGE NO.
1. Abstract 1

2. Introduction 1

3. Newton’s Cradle 2

4. Design and Construction 3

5. Composition of Balls in a Newton's Cradle 4

6. Operation 6

7. Conservation of Energy 8

8. Conservation of Momentum 9

9. Elastic Collisions and Friction 10

10. Conclusion 11

11. Reference 12
Abstract

Newton's Cradle is commonly used to demonstrate the law of energy and

momentum conservation. It consists of swinging spherical bobs which transfers energy
from one to another by means of elastic collisions

Introduction

A Newton's cradle, also called a Newton's rocker or a ball clicker. It was so-named
in 1967 by English actor Simon Prebble, in honor of his countryman and revolutionary
physicist Isaac Newton.

Despite its seemingly simple design, the Newton's cradle and its swinging, clicking
balls isn't just an ordinary desk toy. It is, in fact, an elegant demonstration of some of the
most fundamental laws of physics and mechanics.

The toy illustrates the three main physics principles at work: conservation of
energy, conservation of momentum and friction.

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Newton's Cradle

Newton's Cradle is a clever device that uses a series of equal pendulums in a row
to demonstrate the Laws of Conservation of Momentum and Conservation of Energy.
This device is often used for demonstrations in the classroom, as well as a toy to
amuse people. Newton's Cradle was invented in 1967 by English actor Simon Prebble and
named in honor of scientist and mathematician Isaac Newton, because it employs
Newton's Laws.

The Newton's cradle is a device that demonstrates the conservation of momentum

and the conservation of energy with swinging spheres. When one sphere at the end is
lifted and released, it strikes the stationary spheres, transmitting a force through the
stationary spheres that pushes the last sphere upward. The last sphere swings back and
strikes the nearly stationary spheres, repeating the effect in the opposite direction. The
device is named after 17th-century English scientist Sir Isaac Newton and designed by
French scientist Edme Mariotte. It is also known as Newton's pendulum, Newton's balls,
Newton's rocker

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Design and Construction

While there can be many aesthetic modifications, a normal Newton's cradle has a very
simple setup: Several balls are hung in a line from two crossbars that are parallel to the line of
the balls. These crossbars are mounted to a heavy base for stability.

On small cradles, the balls are hung from the crossbars by light wire, with the balls at
the point of an inverted triangle. This ensures that the balls can only swing in one plane,
parallel to the crossbars. If the ball could move on any other plane, it would impart less energy
to the other balls in the impact or miss them altogether, and the device wouldn't work as well,
if at all.

All the balls are, ideally, exactly the same size, weight, mass and density. Different-sized
balls would still work, but would make the demonstration of the physical principles much less
clear. The cradle is meant to show the conservation of energy and momentum, both of which
involve mass. The impact of one ball will move another ball of the same mass the same
distance at the same speed. In other words, it'll do the same amount of work on the second
ball as gravity did on the first one. A larger ball requires more energy to move the same
distance -- so while the cradle will still work, it makes it more difficult to see the equivalence.

As long as the balls are all the same size and density, they can be as big or as small as
you like. The balls must be perfectly aligned at the center to make the cradle work the best. If
the balls hit each other at some other point, energy and momentum is lost by being sent in a
different direction. There's usually an odd number of balls, five and seven being the most
common, though any number will work.

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Composition of Balls in a Newton's Cradle

In a Newton's Cradle, ideal balls are made out of a material that is very elastic and
of uniform density. Elasticity is the measure of a material's ability to deform and then
return to its original shape without losing energy; very elastic materials lose little energy;
inelastic materials lose more energy. A Newton's cradle will move for longer with balls
made of a more elastic material. A good rule of thumb is that the better something
bounces, the higher its elasticity.

Stainless steel is a common material for Newton's cradle balls because it's both
highly elastic and relatively cheap. Other elastic metals like titanium would also work
well, but are rather expensive.

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 A stainless-steel ball may only compress by a few microns when it's hit by another
ball, but the cradle still functions because steel rebounds without losing much energy.

The density of the balls should be the same to ensure that energy is transferred
through them with as little interference as possible. Changing the density of a material
will change the way energy is transferred through it. Consider the transmission of
vibration through air and through steel; because steel is much denser than air, the
vibration will carry farther through steel than it will through air, given that the same
amount of energy is applied in the beginning. So, if a Newton's cradle ball is, for example,
more dense on one side than the other, the energy it transfers out the less-dense side
might be different from the energy it received on the more-dense side, with the difference
lost to friction.

Other types of balls commonly used in Newton's cradles, particularly ones meant
more for demonstration than display, are billiard balls and bowling balls, both of which
are made of various types of very hard resins.

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Operation

Newton's cradle in slow motion

When one of the end balls ("the first") is pulled sideways, the attached string makes it
follow an upward arc. When it is let go, it strikes the second ball and comes to nearly a dead
stop. The ball on the opposite side acquires most of the velocity of the first ball and swings in
an arc almost as high as the release height of the first ball. This shows that the last ball receives
most of the energy and momentum of the first ball. The impact produces a compression wave
that propagates through the intermediate balls. Any efficiently elastic material such as steel
does this, as long as the kinetic energy is temporarily stored as potential energy in the
compression of the material rather than being lost as heat. There are slight movements in all
the balls after the initial strike but the last ball receives most of the initial energy from the
impact of the first ball. When two (or three) balls are dropped, the two (or three) balls on the
opposite side swing out. Some say that this behavior demonstrates the conservation of
momentum and kinetic energy in elastic collisions. However, if the colliding balls behave as
described above with the same mass possessing the same velocity before and after the
collisions, then any function of mass and velocity is conserved in such an event.

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7
Conservation of Energy
The law of conservation of energy states that energy -- the ability to do work -- can't
be created or destroyed. Energy can, however, change forms, which the Newton's Cradle takes
advantage of -- particularly the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy and vice versa.
Potential energy is energy objects have stored either by virtue of gravity or of their elasticity.
Kinetic energy is energy objects have by being in motion.

Let's number the balls one through five. When all five are at rest, each has zero potential
energy because they cannot move down any further and zero kinetic energy because they
aren't moving. When the first ball is lifted up and out, its kinetic energy remains zero, but its
potential energy is greater, because gravity can make it fall. After the ball is released, its
potential energy is converted into kinetic energy during its fall because of the work gravity
does on it.

When the ball has reached its lowest point, its potential energy is zero, and its kinetic energy
is greater. Because energy can't be destroyed, the ball's greatest potential energy is equal to
its greatest kinetic energy. When Ball One hits Ball Two, it stops immediately, its kinetic and
potential energy back to zero again. But the energy must go somewhere -- into Ball Two.
Ball One's energy is transferred into Ball Two as potential energy as it compresses under the
force of the impact. As Ball Two returns to its original shape, it converts its potential energy
into kinetic energy again, transferring that energy into Ball Three by compressing it. The ball
essentially functions as a spring.

This transfer of energy continues on down the line until it reaches Ball Five, the last in the line.
When it returns to its original shape, it doesn't have another ball in line to compress. Instead,
its kinetic energy pushes on Ball Four, and so Ball Five swings out. Because of the conservation
of energy, Ball Five will have the same amount of kinetic energy as Ball One, and so will swing
out with the same speed that Ball One had when it hit.
One falling ball imparts enough energy to move one other ball the same distance it fell at the
same velocity it fell. Similarly, two balls impart enough energy to move two balls, and so on.
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Conservation of Momentum

Momentum is the force of objects in motion; everything that moves has

momentum equal to its mass multiplied by its velocity. Like energy, momentum is
conserved. It's important to note that momentum is a vector quantity, meaning that the
direction of the force is part of its definition; it's not enough to say an object has
momentum, you have to say in which direction that momentum is acting.

When Ball One hits Ball Two, it's traveling in a specific direction -- let's say east to
west. This means that its momentum is moving west as well. Any change in direction of
the motion would be a change in the momentum, which cannot happen without the
influence of an outside force. That is why Ball One doesn't simply bounce off Ball Two --
the momentum carries the energy through all the balls in a westward direction.

But wait. The ball comes to a brief but definite stop at the top of its arc; if
momentum requires motion, how is it conserved? It seems like the cradle is breaking an
unbreakable law. The reason it's not, though, is that the law of conservation only works
in a closed system, which is one that is free from any external force -- and the Newton's
cradle is not a closed system. As Ball Five swings out away from the rest of the balls, it
also swings up. As it does so, it's affected by the force of gravity, which works to slow the
ball down.

When the ball reaches its peak, it's back to having only potential energy, and its
kinetic energy and momentum are reduced to zero. Gravity then begins pulling the ball
downward, starting the cycle again.

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Elastic Collisions and Friction

An elastic collision occurs when two objects run into each other, and the combined
kinetic energy of the objects is the same before and after the collision.

The balls in a Newton's cradle hit each other in a series of elastic collisions,
transferring the energy of Ball One through the line on to Ball Five, losing no energy along
the way.

It's impossible to have an ideal Newton's cradle, because one force will always
conspire to slow things to a stop: friction. Friction robs the system of energy, slowly
bringing the balls to a standstill.

Newton's cradle aren't really elastic collisions but rather inelastic collisions, in
which the kinetic energy after the collision is less than the kinetic energy beforehand.

The balls also vibrate, which dissipates energy into the air and creates the clicking
sound that is the signature of the Newton's cradle.

The deviations from the ideal Newton's cradle slow down the swinging of the balls
on either end, and eventually result in all the balls swinging together, in unison.

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Conclusion

This continuous clicking of balls is also a proof of Newton's law of the conservation

of energy, which states that energy can't be created or destroyed but that it can change

forms. Newton's Cradle demonstrates this last part of the law quite well, as it converts

the potential energy of one ball into kinetic energy that is transferred down the line of

balls and ultimately results in the upward swinging of the last ball.

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Reference
Websites
Newton's cradle - Wikipedia
How Newton’s Cradles Work - HowStuffWorks.com

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