Newton’s Cradle

November 20, 2008

Newton’s Cradle

Newton’s Cradle is a clever device that not only demonstrates a pendulum, but also shows the Laws of Conservation of Momentum and Energy. Friction and damping effects are also observed. This device is often used 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.

Click on the picture to activate Active-X. The dotted border will disappear. Then drag a ball and release it. This operation can be done on any of the balls, and you may drag it either direction, left or right.

The animation displays the idealized behavior of the Newton’s cradle apparatus, assuming nearly perfectly elastic, perfectly spherical balls of equal mass and composition. However, it does show slow loss of kinetic energy as the balls take some while to come to rest.