Linear Momentum, Impulse and Collisions

The term momentum is used in various ways in everyday language, most of which are consistent with the precise scientific definition. Generally, momentum …

Force and momentum are intimately related. Force acting over time can change momentum, and Newton's second law of motion can be stated in its most …

According to Newton’s second law of motion, the rate of change of the momentum of an object is the net external force acting on it. The total change …

The total change in the motion of an object is proportional to the total force vector acting on it and the time over which it acts. This product is called …

The total momentum of a system consisting of N interacting objects is constant in time or is conserved. A system must meet two requirements for its …

Solving problems using the conservation of momentum requires four basic steps: Identify a closed system, where the total mass is constant, and no net …

When two objects come in direct contact with each other, it is called a collision. During a collision, two or more objects exert forces on each other in a …

When two or more objects collide with each other, they can stick together to form one single composite object (after collision). The total mass of the …

An elastic collision is one that conserves both internal kinetic energy and momentum. Internal kinetic energy is the sum of the kinetic energies of the …

Elastic collision of a system demands conservation of both momentum and kinetic energy. To solve problems involving one-dimensional elastic collisions …

It is far more common for collisions to occur in two dimensions; that is, the initial velocity vectors are neither parallel nor antiparallel to each …

In multiple dimensions, the conservation of momentum applies in each direction independently. Hence, to solve collisions in multiple dimensions, we should …

Any object that obeys Newton's second law of motion is made up of a large number of infinitesimally small particles. Objects in motion can be as …

The center of mass of an object is defined as the mass-weighted average position of all the particles that comprise the object. The significance of the …

The driving force for the motion of any vehicle is friction, but in the case of rocket propulsion in space, the friction force is not present. The motion …

The motion of a rocket is governed by the conservation of momentum principle. A rocket's momentum changes by the same amount (with the opposite sign) …

Rockets range in size from small fireworks that ordinary people use to the enormous Saturn V that once propelled massive payloads toward the Moon. The …

A rocket's velocity in the presence of a gravitational field is decreased by the amount of force exerted by Earth's gravitational field, which …

Consider a system comprising several point masses. The coordinates of the center of mass for this system can be expressed as the summation of the product …