Linear Momentum and

Collisions

Prepared by:

Rosyidah Binti Mohamed

Nur Juwaina Binti Mahathir
 Chapter Contents
• Energy and Momentum in Non-Elastic
Collisions
• Energy and Momentum in Elastic
Collisions
• Propulsion And Rocket
Let’s recall

• Linear Momentum
• Impulse
• Conservation of Linear Momentum
How can the effect of catching a slow, heavy
object be the same as catching a fast,
lightweight object?

Because: they have the same

momentum.
 Linear Momentum
Linear momentum of an object with the mass, m travelling
with velocity, v is defined as the product of mass and
velocity of the object.

The formula:

Momentum is a vector; its direction is the same as the

direction of the velocity.
Linear momentum, p is the momentum of an object of
mass, m moving in a straight line with velocity v.
Impulse
Impulse is a term that quantifies the overall effect of a force
acting over time. It is conventionally given the symbol J, and
expressed in Newton-seconds.

For a constant force J=F⋅Δt

As we saw earlier, this is exactly equivalent to a change in

momentum p.

This equivalence is known as the impulse-momentum

theorem. Because of the impulse-momentum theorem, we
can make a direct connection between how a force acts on an
object over time and the motion of the object.
 Impulse
We can rewrite

as

So we see that

The impulse is equal to the change in momentum.

 Conservation of Momentum
The momentum of an object can't change unless an
external force acts on the object.
Recall that the impulse is defined as follows:

Based on this definition, if the total force

, then the initial and final momentums must be the
same, . This is momentum conservation.
 Collisions
A collision occurs when two objects free from external
forces strike one another. Examples of collisions include
a baseball bat hitting a ball, and one car smashing into
another.
Momentum is conserved when objects collide.
However, this does not necessarily mean that kinetic
energy is conserved as well.
Collisions are categorized according to what happens to
the kinetic energy of the system.
What can you conclude from the picture
below?
 Inelastic Collisions

Inelastic collision is a collision in which there is a loss of

kinetic energy
While momentum of the system is conserved in inelastic
collision, kinetic energy is not.

Kinetic energy had been transferred to something else

such as thermal energy, sound and etc.
The total kinetic energy is initially:
 PERFECTLY INELASTIC COLLISION
A collision in which the objects stick together is sometimes called
“perfectly inelastic.”

(a) Two objects of equal mass initially head directly toward one another
at the same speed.
(b) The objects stick together (a perfectly inelastic collision), and so
their final velocity is zero.
(c) The internal kinetic energy of the system changes in any inelastic
collision and is reduced to zero in this example.
ONE DIMENSIONAL PERFECTLY INELASTIC COLLISION

Consider two object of masses m1 and m2 moving with

initial velocities v1i and v2i along the straight line

If the two objects collide head- on, stick together and

move with some commen velocity vf after the collision,
the collision is perfectly inelastic

Because the total momentum of the two- object isolated

system before the collision equals the total momentum
of the combined- object system after the collision
 ONE-DIMENSIONAL PERFECTLY INELASTIC COLLISIONS 10
min

• Therefore, if we know the initial velocities of the two objects,

EXPLORE 20

we can use this single equation to determine the final

min

common velocity
Suppose two similar trolleys are traveling towards each other. They
collide, but because the trolleys are equipped with magnetic
couplers they join together in the collision and become one
connected mass. This type of collision is perfectly inelastic because
the maximum possible kinetic energy has been lost. This doesn't
mean that the final kinetic energy is necessarily zero; momentum
must still be conserved.
Figure 1: An ice hockey goalie catches a hockey puck and recoils backward. The initial
kinetic energy of the puck is almost entirely converted to thermal energy and sound
in this inelastic collision.

a) Find the recoil velocity of a 70.0-kg ice hockey goalie, originally at rest, who
catches a 0.150-kg hockey puck slapped at him at a velocity of 35.0 m/s.

b) How much kinetic energy is lost during the collision? Assume friction between
the ice and the puck-goalie system is negligible.