Chapter 5

Linear Momentum
Conservation of momentum
collision
Impulse
 Momentum
1. Definition of Momentum : quantity of
motion that an object has, if an object is
in motion ( on the move) then it has
momentum
• A sports team which is on the move has
the momentum. If an object is in motion
(on the move) then it has momentum.
 Momentum Defined

p = mv
p = momentum vector
m = mass
v = velocity vector
• Momentum is a vector quantity!
• SI unit for momentum: kg · m /s
• Velocity and momentum vectors point in the same
direction.
• Momentum is a conserved quantity, meaning that in
a closed system, the momentum cannot change. (this
will be proven later).
• Momentum is a very important quantity when we are
dealing with collisions, because it is conserved in all
such cases.
Bus: m = 9000 kg; v = 16 m /s Car: m = 1800 kg; v = 80 m /s
p = 1.44 ·105 kg · m /s
p = 1.44 ·105 kg · m /s

Train: m = 3.6 ·104 kg; v = 4 m /s

p = 1.44 ·105 kg · m /s
Example:
1. Calculate the magnitude of the linear momentum for
the following; a 75.0-kg sprinter running with a speed of
10.0 m/s.
2. What is the momentum of a ball of mass 2 grams and
has a velocity of 10cm/s?
3. A mass of 20kg produces a momentum of 300kgm/s.
What is the Kinetic energy?
 Conservation of linear
momentum
• Law of conservation of linear momentum:

when the sum of the external force acting on a system is

zero, the total linear momentum of the system remains
constant. The system must be isolated and closed system ( no
particle leave /enter the system)
Pi = Pf
 • Whenever two objects collide, momentum of the
system (both objects together) is conserved. This
mean the total momentum of the objects is the same
before and after the collision.

(Choosing right as the +

before: p = m1 v1 - m2 v2 direction, m2 has - momentum.)
v1 v2
m1 m2

m1 v1 - m2 v2 = - m1 va + m2 vb
after: p = - m1 va + m2 vb

va vb
m1 m2
 Example 1:
A crate of raspberry donut filling collides with a tub of
lime Kool Aid on a frictionless surface. Which way on
how fast does the Kool Aid rebound? answer: Let’s
draw v to the right in the after picture.

before
10 m/s 6 m/s

3 kg 15 kg

4.5 m/s v
after
3 kg 15 kg
 Collisions
• From engineering perspectives:
– Gas molecules bounce off each other and the
walls of their container.
– Air and turbine blades collide in a jet engine.
– Pile drivers are used to hammer building
foundations into the ground.
– Car crashes
• Theoretically, collision maybe elastic or
inelastic.
• Remember!! in both situation, the momentum
is conserved.
• But kinetic energy is not necessarily
conserved.
• We will deal only with collisions of two
bodies. We will also limit our discussion to
collisions occurring in one dimension. Such
collisions are called “head-on” collisions”.
 Elastic collision

½ m1u12 + ½ m2u22 = ½ m1v12 + ½ m2v22 (conservation of KE)

Example 5.2

Before collision After collision

MA = 4 kg MB = 2 kg ; UA = 10 m/s to the left
UB = 8 m/s to the right ; VB = 4 m/s to the left.
Calculate the value of VA .
Example 5.3:
Car A of mass 1000 kg moving at 20 ms-1 collides
with a car B of mass 1200 kg moving at 10 m s -1 in
same direction. If the car B is shunted forwards at
15 m s-1 by the impact, what is the velocity, v, of
the car A immediately after the crash?
Inelastic collision
 Inelastic collision
• Collision when KE of the system of each
colliding bodies is not conserved.
• KE is not conserved in inelastic collision.??
• This is because, quite large amount of kinetic
energy are converted into heat, sound and
work done.
• Eg: when fire cracker explodes in mid-air the
KE afterwards is greater than before- due to
energy released in the explosion.
Example 5.5:
A truck of mass 1200 kg moving at 30 m/s
collides with a car of mass 1000 kg which
is travelling in the opposite direction at 20 m/s.
After the collision, the two vehicles move
together. What is the velocity of both vehicles
immediately after collision?
 Impulse

1.Imagine an aircraft that has just touched down

on the runway and applied retro-thrust from its
engines to slow it down.
2.The impulse on the aircraft will depend on the
amount of reverse thrust (ie the force) and the
time the engines apply it. The amount by which
the impulse changes the aircraft’s velocity will
depend on its mass.
3.Another form of Newton’s 2nd law is:
“impulse = change in momentum”
4. If the mass of the object doesn’t change we have:
Ft = m(v – u)where: F = force (N)
t = time (s)
m = mass (kg)
u = initial velocity (ms-1)
v = final velocity (ms-1)
 Situations for Reducing Impulsive Force in
Sports

A baseball player must catch the ball in the

direction of the motion of the ball. Moving his
hand backwards when catching the ball
prolongs the time for the momentum to change
so as to reduce the impulsive force.
Example 5.6:
A 60 kg resident jumps from the first floor of a
burning house. His velocity just before landing on
the ground is 6 ms-1.
(a) Calculate the impulse when his legs
hit the ground.
(b) What is the impulsive force on the
resident’s legs if he bends upon
landing and takes 0.5 s to stop?
(c) What is the impulsive force on the resident’s legs if he
does not bend and stops in 0.05 s?
Example 5.7
Rooney kicks a ball with a force of 1500 N. The
time of contact of his boot with the ball is 0.01
s. What is the impulse delivered to the ball? If
the mass of the ball is 0.5 kg, what is the
velocity of the ball?
Example 5.8:
An aircraft of mass 90 tonnes lands with a speed
of 55 ms-1. Its engines and brakes provide a
combined retarding force of 525 kN for a period
of 8.2 seconds. Ignoring air resistance, what is
the final speed of the aircraft? Hint: If we make the
velocities positive, the force is negative because it acts in the
opposite direction to the motion of the aircraft to slow it
down. We could do a similar calculation for an aircraft
taking off where the force would be positive.