1st Grade

Momentum and
collisions
 Definition of the momentum
Momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an
Anobject.
object with mass that is in motion has momentum which is
defined by the equation:
momentum = mass × velocity
p = mv
Where:
• p = momentum in kilogram metre per second (kg m/s)
• m = mass in kilograms (kg)
• v = velocity in metres per second (m/s)
 Momentum keeps an object moving in
the same direction, making it difficult to
change the direction of an object with a
large momentum

This means that an object at rest (i.e v =

0) has no momentum
Therefore, the momentum of an object will change if
Acceleration/
01 decceleration
The object accelerates (speeds If an object travelling to the right has positive momentum, an
object travelling in the opposite direction (to the left) will have
up) or decelerates (slows down) negative momentum

Direction
02 Changes direction

Mass
03 Its mass changes
Example 1
Both the tennis ball and the brick have the same momentum
Even though the brick is much heavier than the ball, the ball is travelling much faster than the brick
This means that on impact, they would both exert a similar force (depending on the time it takes for each to
come to rest)
 Collisions
Collision means two objects coming into contact
with each other for a very short period.

There are two main types of collisions:

1. Elastic Collision: In the elastic collision

total momentum, the total energy and the
total kinetic energy are conserved.

2. Inelastic Collision: In the inelastic

collision, the objects stick to each other
or move in the same direction.
 Momentum is of interest during collisions
between objects. When two objects collide
the total momentum before the collision is
equal to the total momentum after the
collision (in the absence of external forces).
This is the law of conservation of
momentum. It is true for all collisions.
 The momentum of a system before and after a collision
• Before the collision:
• The momentum is only of mass m which is moving
• If the right is taken as the positive direction, the total momentum of the system is m × u
• After the collision:
• Mass M also now has momentum
• The velocity of m is now -v (since it is now travelling to the left) and the velocity of M is V
• The total momentum is now the momentum of M + momentum of m
• This is (M × V) + (m × -v) or (M × V) – (m × v)
 Seat belts stop you tumbling around inside the car if there is a collision. Upon sensing a
collision the seat belts lock in place. When the car crashes, there is no unbalanced force acting
on the person, so they continue forward (Newton's First Law).
The Newton's cradle is a device that demonstrates the conservation of momentum and the conservation of
energy with swinging spheres.