Elastic and inelastic collisions apparatus

It consists of a large frame carrying two beams from which two rows of six and two wooden balls, respectively, are suspended from pairs of strings.

By changing the parameters of the experiments such as height of fall and mass, one could conduct a systematic investigation of collision-related phenomena.

This apparatus was illustrated by Jean-Antoine Nollet in Leçons de physique expérimentale (Paris, 1743–1748).

[1] In his description, Nollet claims to have merely altered and developed a model previously used by Edme Mariotte.

The most sophisticated devices for studying elastic and inelastic collisions were built by Willem Jacob 's Gravesande and Petrus van Musschenbroek.