Conservation of Linear

Momentum
 Linear Momentum
• Momentum can be defined as "mass in
motion" or “moving power”
• All objects have mass; so if an object is
moving, then it has momentum - it has its
mass in motion.
Since the object is moving, it has mass
and velocity.
Momentum is defined as
p = mv
• The SI unit of momentum is kg.m/s.
• Momentum is a vector quantity.
• Objects at rest do not have momentum.
p = Mv
p = mV
• A doubling of the mass results in a
doubling of the momentum.
• A doubling velocity means doubling
momentum
1. Determine the momentum of a ...
a. 60-kg halfback moving eastward at 9 m/s.
b. 1000-kg car moving northward at 20 m/s.
c. 40-kg freshman moving southward at 2 m/s.

2. A car possesses 20 000 units of momentum.

What would be the car's new momentum if ...
a. its velocity was doubled.
b. its velocity was tripled.
c. its mass was doubled (by adding more
passengers and a greater load)
d. both its velocity was doubled and its mass was
doubled.
• Any object with momentum is going to be hard to
stop
• To stop such an object, it is necessary to apply a
force against its motion for a given period of time.
• The more momentum that an object has, the
harder that it is to stop.
• It would require a greater amount of force or a
longer amount of time or both to bring such an
object to a halt.
• As the force acts upon the object for a given
amount of time, the object's velocity is changed;
and hence, the object's momentum is changed.
• A force acting for a given amount of time
will change an object's momentum
or
• an unbalanced force always accelerates
an object - either speeding it up or slowing
it down
• Either way, a force will change the velocity
of an object. And if the velocity of the
object is changed, then the momentum of
the object is changed.
• According to Newton’s 2nd Law:

impulse = change in momentum

 Collision
• In a collision, an object experiences a
force for a specific amount of time that
results in a change in momentum.
• The result of the force acting for the given
amount of time is that the object's mass
either speeds up or slows down (or
changes direction).
• The impulse experienced by the object
equals the change in momentum of the
object. J =
 • Greatest velocity change?
• Greatest acceleration?
• Greatest momentum change?
• Greatest Impulse?
 Types of Collisions
1. Elastic collision, momentum and kinetic
energy are conserved.
– There must be no transformation of kinetic energy
into other types of energy within the system.
2. Inelastic collision, kinetic energy is not
conserved, although momentum is still
conserved.
– If the objects stick together after the collision, it is
a perfectly inelastic collision.
– Generally some energy is lost to deformation,
sound, etc.
A rebound is a special type of collision involving a
direction change in addition to a speed change.
The result of the direction change is a large
velocity change.
The diagram to the right depicts the before- and
after-collision speeds of a car that undergoes a
head-on-collision with a wall. In Case A, the car
bounces off the wall. In Case B, the car
crumples up and sticks to the wall.
a. In which case (A or B) is the change in velocity
the greatest? Explain.
b. In which case (A or B) is the change in
momentum the greatest? Explain.
1. Jennifer, who has a mass of 50.0 kg, is riding at
35.0 m/s in her red sports car when she must
suddenly slam on the brakes to avoid hitting a
deer crossing the road. She strikes the air bag,
that brings her body to a stop in 0.500 s. What
average force does the seat belt exert on her?

2. If a 5-kg object experiences a 10-N force for a

duration of 0.10-second, then what is the
momentum change of the object?
Conservation of Linear Momentum
For a collision occurring between object 1 and
object 2 in an isolated system, the total
momentum of the two objects before the collision
is equal to the total momentum of the two objects
after the collision. That is, the momentum lost by
object 1 is equal to the momentum gained by
object 2.
Consider the collision between the club
head and the golf ball in the sport of golf.

m1v1i + m２v1i = m1v2f + m2v2f

From Newton’s 3rd Law:

Since collision occurs in two bodies at the same

time:
Different cases;
1. Identical masses, one object at rest
v1i = v1f + v2f v1f = 0, v2f = v1i

2. Unequal masses, both moving

3. Unequal masses, one object at rest

 Exercise
1. A glider of mass m, moving with initial
speed v1 to the right collides in an elastic
collision with a glider of mass 2m initially
at rest. What are the final velocities of the
two gliders?