Momentum and Impulse in 1 dimension Concepts and Mathematical formalism
So what exactly is Momentum? Momentum is frequently referred to as “ mass in motion” Momentum is the “quantitative” description of Inertia Newton originally used the concept of inertia/momentum to mathematically derive We will only study momentum in 1 and 2 dimensions
Mathematical equation of momentum So, how do we define momentum mathematically? Well, lets start by choosing a letter to mathematically represent inertia…
Impulse So, now that we know how to describe momentum, what about impulse? Impulse is defined as the change in momentum over a given time interval That is, an impulse applied to an object changes it momentum So what makes impulse such an important quantity?
Conclusions Momentum is a vector and has units kg m/s Momentum is the mathematical description of inertia Momentum is a vector and has units kg m/s The impulse applied to an object is equal to the objects change in momentum Impulse is also a vector, and has the units Ns Equations to remember: