CONSERVATION OF

MOMENTUM

Billiards and Impulse

What happens to the
speed and/or direction of
the cue (white) ball after
impact? The red ball?
What happens to the
momentum of both? How
are they related?

Momentum is conserved or maintained

between billiard balls
The momentum loss of
the cue(white) ball equals
the momentum gained by
the red ball

Conservation of momentum
If system is closed and isolated:
Momentum in the system can not be
created or destroyed, only transferred

Conservation of momentum
The total amount of momentum in a isolated
system is conserved
Conserved means that the momentum can be
transferred from one object to another, but not
lost to the system
Closed isolated system: no other factors
(forces) play a significant role in the
interaction.
No momentum is passed to anything outside
the system

Closed systems
No truly closed, isolated systems
But lots of systems that are significantly
closed and isolated to allow use of the
idea of momentum conservation
Error has to be insignificant for system to
be closed

Momentum is transferred
whenever there is a collision
Examples of collisions in real life?

Types of Collisions
Elastic: collision where kinetic energy and
momentum are conserved, nothing sticks
together
Inelastic: collision where only momentum is
conserved, nothing sticks together
Completely Inelastic: collision where only
momentum is conserved, objects stick together

Example of Elastic Collisions

There are no examples of large scale
perfectly elastic collisions
Some of the kinetic energy of a moving
object is converted into internal (ex.
Thermal) energy of the other object involved
in the collision, or converted to external TE
(heating the surrounding environment)

Most common types of

collisions in nature are
inelastic!

Equation for Conservation of Momentum

Momentum of all objects in system before
interaction = Momentum of all objects after
the interaction

Conservation of Momentum
equation
For 2 objects
(can be expanded by adding a term on
each side of equation for each additional
object)
m1v1 + m2v2 = m1v1 +m2v2

Example problem #1
Two Car Collision
A 1500 kg car traveling at 15 m/s to the south
collides with a 4500 kg truck that is initially at
rest at a stoplight. The car and the truck stick
together after the collision. What is the velocity
of the final two car mass?

Example Problem #2
A hockey player
shoots a 1.5 kg puck
at 80 m/s that is
caught by the
opposing teams 65
kg goalie.
What is the resulting
velocity of the goalie,
who started from rest?

Example of Conservation of momentum

SHOOTING A GUN AND

RECOIL

Math behind recoil

Initial momentum of bullet and gun = 0
The sum of the momentums of both must
total 0
Momentum of gun = -(Momentum of
bullet)

Example #3
Mr. Baker shot a 87g
bullet from a 4.8 kg
gun. The bullet
leaves the gun at 600
m/s If both bullet and
gun start from rest,
what is the final
velocity of the gun.

Recoil

Example of conservation of momentum

LAUNCHING A ROCKET

What force makes the rocket move upward?

How rockets move

Fuel is ignited, particles move very fast.
Particles push on the rocket
Rocket pushes back sending particles down
towards Earth
The upward p of rocket = downward p of exhaust