JAMES EDRIAN A.

RUBIO APRIL 9, 2021

BSCE - 1A

“WHAT HAVE I LEARNED IN COURSE UNIT 4: MOMENTUM, IMPULSE, AND COLLISIONS”

● Momentum is a vector quantity which refers to a property related to the object’s motion
and mass and its direction is the same as its velocity. Linear Momentum or simply the
momentum of an object is the product of the mass of the object and its velocity.
○ The Net Force from Newton’s Second Law of Motion is also equivalent to the
rate of change of the body’s momentum.
○ Momentum is conserved in all types of interaction, i.e. the total momentum
before interaction is equal to the total momentum after the collision.
● Impulse simply refers to the product of a force and the time during which it acts in an
object. It is also equal to the change in momentum. Its direction is the same as the
direction of the net force acting on the object.
● Collision occurs when two or more bodies come in contact with each other. When two
or more bodies collide, linear momentum is conserved but the total kinetic energy may or
may not be conserved depending on the type of collision. It may be described as
perfectly inelastic, inelastic, or elastic based on what happens to the two bodies after the
collision.
○ The Coefficient of Restitution, represented by “e”, is the negative ratio of the
relative velocity of the two colliding objects after collision to the relative velocity
before the collision.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF COLLISION

PERFECTLY INELASTIC ELASTIC INELASTIC

The bodies cling to each The bodies separate after The bodies separate after
other after collision and move collision. collision.
with a common velocity.

Linear momentum is Linear momentum is Linear momentum is

conserved. conserved. conserved.

Kinetic Energy is not Kinetic Energy is conserved. Kinetic Energy is not

conserved. conserved.

e=0 e=1 0<e<1

Basic Formulae

MOMENTUM:
𝑝 = 𝑚𝑣
Where:
𝑝= linear momentum (SI: kgm/s)
𝑚= mass (kg)
𝑣=velocity (m/s)

KINETIC-MOMENTUM: “Equal amount of momenta doesn’t necessarily mean equal amount of

Kinetic Energy.”
2
𝑝 1
𝐾= 2𝑚
= 2
𝑝𝑣
Where:
𝐾= Kinetic Energy
𝑝= linear momentum
𝑚= mass
𝑣= velocity

NEWTON’S SECOND LAW:

𝑣𝑓−𝑣𝑖
Σ𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎; 𝑎= ∆𝑡

Σ𝐹 = 𝑚 ( )
𝑣𝑓−𝑣𝑖
∆𝑡
𝑚𝑣𝑓−𝑚𝑣𝑖
Σ𝐹 = ∆𝑡
𝑝𝑓−𝑝𝑖
Σ𝐹 = ∆𝑡
∆𝑝
Σ𝐹 = ∆𝑡
Where:
Σ𝐹= Average Net Force (N)
∆𝑝= Change in Momentum (kgm/s)
∆𝑡= Time during the net force acts (s)

IMPULSE:
𝐼 = Σ𝐹 • ∆𝑡 = ∆𝑝 = 𝑚(𝑣𝑓 − 𝑣𝑖)
Where:
𝐼= Impulse (Ns)
Σ𝐹= Net Force (N)
∆𝑡= time (s)
∆𝑝= Change in Momentum (Ns)

CONSERVATION OF MOMENTUM:
Σ𝑝𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 = Σ𝑝𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟
𝑚𝐴𝑣𝐴1 + 𝑚𝐵𝑣𝐵1 =𝑚𝐴𝑣𝐴2 + 𝑚𝐵𝑣𝐵2
Where:
𝑚𝐴= mass of object A (kg)
𝑚𝐵= mass of object B (kg)
𝑣𝐴1= initial velocity of object A (m/s)
𝑣𝐵1= initial velocity of object B (m/s)
𝑣𝐴2= final velocity of object A (m/s)
𝑣𝐵2= final velocity of object B (m/s)

KINETIC ENERGY IS CONSERVED:

Σ𝐾𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 = Σ𝐾𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
2
𝑚 𝑣𝐴1 + 2
𝑚 𝑣𝐵1 = 2
𝑚 𝑣𝐴2 + 2
𝑚 𝑣𝐵2
𝐴 𝐵 𝐴 𝐵

KINETIC ENERGY IS NOT CONSERVED:

Σ𝐾𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 > Σ𝐾𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟
𝐸𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 = Σ𝐾𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 − Σ𝐾𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟

COEFFICIENT OF RESTITUTION:
𝑣𝐴2−𝑣𝐵2
𝑒 =− 𝑣𝐴1−𝑣𝐵1

Where:
𝑒 = coefficient of restitution, varies from 0 to 1
𝑣𝐴2= Final velocity of the first object
𝑣𝐵2= Final velocity of the second object
𝑣𝐴1= Initial velocity of the first object
𝑣𝐵1= Initial velocity of the second object