2.

4 Analysing Momentum
Chapter 2 Force and Motion
You can catch a fast moving ping-pong ball
easily with your bare hand.
A softball keeper must wear a glove to catch
a hard and fast moving softball.
Why is a slow moving softball much easier to
catch?
If a loaded lorry and a car are moving at
the same speed, it is more difficult for
the lorry to stop.
 This is because the lorry possesses a physical quantity,
momentum, more than the car.
All moving objects possess momentum.
Activity 2.2
To compare the effects of stopping two objects
in motion
 The steel ball
released from a
greater height
strikes the plasticine
at a greater velocity.
 Although both balls
have the same
diameter, the steel
ball has greater mass
than the wooden
ball.
Observation:
Two balls at the same
mass moving at different
velocities
The depth and size of
cavity caused by the steel
ball released from a
greater height is deeper
and larger
Two balls of different
masses moving at the
same velocity
The depth and size of
cavity formed by the steel
ball is deeper and larger.
Conclusion

Themoving balls produce an effect on the

plasticine which is to stop the motion.
The greater the mass or velocity of the
moving object is, the greater is the effect
(the depth and size of cavity), the greater
is the momentum.
Linear Momentum
Thelinear momentum is defined as the
product of mass and velocity.
Momentum = Mass velocity
p = mv
unit: kg ms-1
Vector quantity
A billiard ball A of mass 0.5 kg is moving from
left to right with a velocity of 2 m s-1 while
another billiard ball B of equal mass is
moving from right to left with the same
speed. Calculate the momentum for both
balls.
Conservation of Momentum