Momentum, Impulse and

Collision

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Momentum and Impulse
Which could potentially cause you greater
injury: bumped by a fast moving car, or
bumped by a car with double the mass but
moving at half the speed?

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 Momentum
 
p  mv
 Measure of the quantity of motion
 Depends on mass and velocity
 A vector  same direction as velocity
 Greater mass, greater momentum
 Greater speed, greater momentum
 Momentum in component form:
p x  mv x p y  mv y p z  mv z
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 How can you change an object’s
momentum?
 Greater momentum
 Hard to change its state of motion
 Lesser momentum
 Easy to change its state of motion
 To change momentum
 Apply a force
 Apply the force at a longer period of time
Impulse   
J   F t 2  t1    Ft


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 Momentum and Impulse
 General Definition of Impulse is the area under
Impulse the curve of F vs. t
 t2  graph! 
J    F dt
t1

 Average Net force

 
J  Fav t 2  t1 
 A vector
 Can be expressed in
component form
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 Momentum and Impulse

 Impulse – Momentum Theorem

   
J  F net t  p 2  p1
 Applying an impulsive force at a period of time on
an object changes the objects momentum during
that time interval.

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Momentum and Impulse

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 Momentum and Impulse
 Recall from Newton’s 2nd Law
 
 dv d 
 F  ma  m dt  dt mv 
 Momentum  
p  mv
 2nd Law can be restated as:
 Momentum of a particle changes ONLY if there is
a net external force on the particle.
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 Momentum and Impulse

 Newton’s 2nd Law originally stated by

Newton:  dp 
 F  dt
 Large Net Force = Rapid change in momentum
 Less Net Force = Gradual change in momentum

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 SAMPLE PROBLEM 1
 Suppose you throw a
ball with a mass of 0.40
kg against a brick wall.
It hits the wall
horizontally to the right
at 20 m/s.
 Find the impulse of the
net force on the ball
during its collision with
the wall.
 If the brickwall and ball
are in contact for 0.120
ms, what is the net force
on the ball? 10
 Why did we not include
the force of gravity on the
ball?

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 Conservation of Momentum
 Essential in interactions of two or more objects
 Forces to think about:
 Internal forces
 Forces that particles in the system exert on each other.
 Impulsive forces of a collision
 External forces
 Forces exerted on any part of the system by some object
outside it
 Forces that CHANGE the system’s momentum.
 If there are no external forces: ISOLATED SYSTEM
How then can I know what system is to be considered?...  12
Conservation of Momentum

Sum of Forces
for the A and
B system is
ZERO!

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 Conservation of Momentum
The total momentum of the system is:
  
P  p A  pB
From Newton’s 2nd Law based on momentum:

  dP
FA on B  FB on A  0
dt
The total momentum of the  
Pinitial  Pfinal
system is CONSTANT! 
Impulsive forces in a collision leave the total momentum of
the system UNCHANGED! 14
 Conservation of Momentum
 Principle of Conservation of Momentum
 If the vector sum of the external forces on a system
is zero, the total momentum of the system is
constant.
 Conservation of momentum holds during collision
only to the extent that the impulsive forces of the
collision are far greater than any external forces
acting on the system during the collision.
 Friction can be neglected between two cars colliding
 Force of gravity can be neglected when you throw a ball
on a wall
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 Conservation of Momentum
 Total momentum of a system of particles:
    
P  p A  pB    m Av A  mB vB  

 Can be expressed by components

Px  p A, x  pB , x  
Py  p A, y  pB , y  
Pz  p A, z  pB , z  

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 SAMPLE PROBLEM 2
 A 60-kg archer stands at rest
on frictionless ice and fires a
0.50-kg arrow horizontally at
50 m/s. With what velocity
does the archer move across
the ice after firing the arrow?

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Conservation of Momentum as
Observed Everyday

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Conservation of Momentum as
Observed Everyday

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 Elastic Collisions
 Internal forces must be conservative.
 Deformations due to collision temporarily provide
a PE that can be reconverted to KE.
 Ideally, kinetic energy and momentum are
conserved.
KEinitial  KE final
 
Pinitial  Pfinal

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 Elastic Collisions
 If B is at rest, and A strikes B along one axis
only (e.g. x-axis) :
1
2 m Av 2
A ,i  m Av
1
2
2
A, f  mB v
1
2
2
B, f

m A v A , i  m A v A , f  mB v B , f
Try to figure out the details, ok? 

v A,i  v B , f  v A, f
m A  mB 2m A
v A, f  v A ,i vB , f  v A ,i
m A  mB m A  mB
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 Elastic Collision
If B is at rest, and A strikes B:
m A  mB 2m A
v A, f  v A ,i vB , f  v A ,i
m A  mB m A  mB

Ping pong hits bowling ball Bowling ball hits ping pong

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 Elastic Collision
 What happens if the two balls have equal
masses?

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 Elastic Collision

The speed of approach equals the speed of

recession! 
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 Elastic Collision
 In a STRAIGHT-LINE elastic collision of two
bodies, the relative velocities before and after
collision have the same magnitude but
opposite sign.

vB , x , f  v A, x , f  vB , x ,i  v A, x ,i 

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 SAMPLE PROBLEM 3
 Consider the figure below. The two gliders have ideal
spring bumpers to make collision elastic. What are the
velocity of A after collision if the final velocity of B is
3 m/s to the right?

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 SAMPLE PROBLEM 4
Given two gliders having ideal spring bumpers
to make collision elastic. What are the velocity
of A and B after collision if the initial velocity of
A is 5 m/s to the right and B is at rest?
mA=2.50 kg
mB= 4 kg

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 SAMPLE PROBLEM 5
Given two gliders having ideal spring bumpers
to make collision elastic. What are the velocity
of A and B after collision if the initial velocity of
A is 5 m/s to the right and B is -2 m/s to the left
?
mA=2.50 kg
mB= 4 kg

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 Inelastic Collisions
 Inelastic Collision
 Collision in which the total kinetic energy after
collision is LESS than that before the collision
 Mechanical energy is lost during collision
 Completely Inelastic Collision
 Colliding objects “stick” together to form one
composite object with mass m1 + m2 and final
velocity vf.

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Inelastic Collision

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 Completely Inelastic Collisions
 If two objects A and B stick together after
collision   
v A, final  vB , final  v final

 Hence for completely inelastic collisions :

  
m Av A,i  mB vB ,i  m A  mB v f

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 SAMPLE PROBLEM 6

Determine the final velocity and the kinetic energies of A

and B after collision.