Chapter 2

Section 2: Velocity and

Momentum
What you’ll learn:
• What is the difference between speed and velocity?
• How is the motion of two objects relative to each other
described?
• How can an object’s momentum be calculated?
New Vocabulary:

• Velocity

• Momentum
Velocity:
• Velocity includes the speed of an object
and the direction of its motion.
• Velocity has the same units as speed, m/s.
 How do speed and direction
affect velocity?
• To help you understand velocity, think about two escalators. Some escalators go
up and others go down. One escalator is moving upward at the same speed that
another escalator is moving downward. The two escalators are going the same
speed, but they are going in different directions. They each have a different
velocity. If the second escalator were moving upward, then both escalators would
have the same velocity.

• Same speed, different velocities: It is possible for two objects

to have the same speed but different velocities.

Velocity depends on both speed and direction.

Velocity: Example 1: Suppose there is an object traveled a distance
of 10 meters in the left direction and the time taken by the
object is 120 seconds. Find the velocity of the object.

Example 2: A whale has to emigrate 10 kilometers east, if the

whale has to be at its destination in 24 hours, define the
velocity that the whale has to have to get there on time.
Relative Motion:
• The choice of a reference point affects how you describe motion.
• Relative motion is the motion with respect to the observer (the reference
point).
 Different observers might perceive the same motion differently.
Example: The motion of a hurricane can be described using a stationary reference point,
such as a house. If the house is chosen for the reference point, the car appears to be
traveling 10 km/h west and the hurricane appears to be traveling 20 km/h west.
Relative Motion:

• Example: If the car is chosen as the reference point, the hurricane appears to be
moving towards the car at 10 km/h and the house is moving away from the car at 10
km/h.
Momentum:

• A moving object has a property called momentum. Momentum is related to how much
force is needed to change an object’s motion.
• The momentum of an object is the product of its mass and its velocity.
Momentum is usually represented by the symbol p.
Momentum:
Example 1: At the end of a race, a sprinter with a mass of 80.0 kg has a velocity of 10.0
m/s east. What is the sprinter’s momentum?
Answer:

Example 2: What is the momentum of a car with a mass of 1,300 kg traveling north
at a speed of 28 m/s?

Example 3: A baseball has a momentum of 6.0 kg·m/s south and a mass of

0.15 kg. What is the baseball’s velocity?

Example 4: Find the mass of a person walking west at a speed of 0.8 m/s with a
momentum of 52.0 kg·m/s west.
Assessment:
1. A car, a bicycle, a mouse, and a bug have the same
velocity. Which has the greatest momentum?

A the car CORRECT

B the bicycle

C the mouse

D the bug