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Activity (Hands-On)Grades 7 - 9

Skateboard Disaster

A photograph showing a skateboarder doing a rail slide at a public skate park in San Diego. With both hands up in the air for balance, he stands with both feet on his skateboard, which is on the top of a horizontal hand rail.Students examine the conservation of momentum in skateboard collisions

Students examine collisions between two skateboards with different masses to learn about conservation of momentum in collisions.

Engineers thoroughly understand momentum and collisions so they can design human body replacement parts, safer vehicles, or plan for spacecraft to safely dock at space stations or land on the moon. For the safety of the occupants, engineers design cars with crumple zones — areas of the car that absorb the momentum of the forces hitting the car. Airbags are another engineering safety innovation that protects passengers by accounting for the conservation of momentum.

After this activity, students should be able to:

  • Predict what can happen in a linear collision using the principle of conservation of momentum.
  • Explain that with every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton's Third Law).
  • Experimentally determine the momentum of two objects in a collision.
  • Explain why engineers must thoroughly understand momentum and collisions to design many products.

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