Mining Coherence in the Momentum Unit

Momentum, its conservation, and impulse-momentum relationships are representationally underdeveloped in most Physics curricula. Other than bare algebraic representations, vectors provide some
geometric depth to the model, however neither of these tools is especially rich for bulding student
understanding of momentum conservation. Traditionally, students emerge from their first exposure to
momentum with rote algorithmic tools and little coherent comprehension of the conditions for
momentum conservation.
The existing modeling curriculum is an improvement on traditional instruction because it takes
advantage of data acquisition and graphical analysis to lead students to establish the connection
between impulsive-forces and momentum changes, where the area under Net Force vs. Time graph is
dimensionally interpreted as the change in momentum of the object during the interaction. Students
thus acquire the basis for equating impulse and momentum in the algebraic form: Ft = mv .
Newtons third law can then be invoked to theorize that impulse, like force, has equal and opposite
quantities in any interaction. This fact might be used to deduce the conservation of momentum within
a system experiencing only internal, forces, however this line of reasoning is conspicuously absent
(perhaps intentionally?). Instead a paradigm lab enables students to capture data for multiple
interactions, including explosions and various types of collisions, from which the conservation of
momentum is empirically evident and can be added to the students model in the expandable algebraic
form: p = p' . The worksheets/deployments take occasional advantage of the F vs. t graphical
representation, but rely almost exlusively on traditional algebraic expressions, and little grappling
with the vector nature of momentum.
In the exploration that follows, I will attempt to develop an additional graphical representation to
enrich student understanding of momentum in two stages:

1) Introduce momentum by estabishing a geometrical representation of momentum

using rectangular areas with dimensions of mass (kg) x velocity (m/s). The principal
advantage of this representation will be to provide visual clarity for the algebraic
equation p = mv , which alone too often conceals the proportionality of momentum to
mass and velocity.
2) Build a momentum corrollary (which must account for direction), to the substance
metaphors and bar graphs of energy conservation developed in the Energy Unit
(contributed largely by Greg Swackhamer and Larry Dukerich).

1) Introducing a New Quantity: Something More Than Velocity.

Students have strong intuitions about momentum, perhaps because a primitive model about the size of
an impending impulse is often necessary to avoid serious bodily harm. In Brooklyn, this p-prim or
Physical Primitive (Di Sessa) can be displayed when surveyed students admit that they are much
more likely to jay-walk in front of an approaching car then, say, a garbage truck moving at the same
velocity, and that they are even more likely to walk in front of an approaching baseball. Asking for
volunteers to stand in the way of various moving objects might be a simple way to evoke the need
to define a new physical quantity that contains information about velocity AND mass.
The teacher could follow such a demo with the definition of momentum ( p = mv ) and challenge
students to create a geometric shape whose area represents this new quantity and to show how it
applies to several different objects of various masses, velocities, and positive or negative directions.
The model should eventually take the form shown below, where the sign of the area can be
understood to tell something about the direction of the velocity of the object.
This representation could be deployed in exercises where objects have
equal masses and different velocities, equal velocities and different
masses, where they must solve for one of the dimensions from other
knowns, and finally in contexts where the total momentum of a system is a
sum of positive and negative areas.

From these area representations, the meaning of the algebraic representations, p = mv and
p total = m1v1 + m 2 v 2 + .... promote some geometrical and proportional depth in student thinking.

2) Bridging from Conservation of Energy: The Substance Metaphor

a) The Energy Model

In describing the energy model, students are led to treat energy as a simple substance that flows
between various containers. (Swackhamer) For example, for a one dimensial explosion (fig. 1), the
substance metaphor for ENERGY is invoked in the claim that energy flows from the loaded spring
into the carts, to accommodate friction, we can extend the metaphor unproblematically: some of that
energy then flows from the carts to the internal energy of the wheels and track. Energy is presented
as extant quantity that is neither created nor destroyed but simply passed between containers.
VB

vA
A

before

after

The energy flow diagram for the two cart scenario might be represented as shown below:

In a modeling curriculum, energy bar graphs can be used to convey a qualitatively-rich, quantitative
model for energy conservation. For the system above, such a representation might look as follows.

This is a non-conservative example, and the preceding energy flow diagram distinguishes between
energy lost to the internal energy of objects both inside and outside the system.
b) The Conservation of Momentum

Whereas energy transfers can be represented as the flow of an already existent substance from one
entity to another, with the original quantity always conserved, trying to analogize a flow of
momentum is less handy. Because of its vector nature, the conservation of momentum is slightly more
complicated to represent than the conservation of energy, and interactions do not fit so neatly into the
substance metaphor unless we can expand it to encompass something like substance and antisubstance.
For the above example, in which the initial system has no momentum, our metaphor must take the
form, there are equal amounts of positive and negative momentum afterwards. From this example,
we see that, unlike energy, momentum can in a sense be created or destroyed, but only if an equal
amount of it is created or destroyed in the opposite direction. Fortunately, our previous representation
of momentum in terms of positive and negative areas allows the development of something like the
energy bar graph representation, with the added bonus of providing geometric meaning to momentum.

p total
m A v Ai

m BvBi

m A (0 m/s) + m B (0 m/s)

p'total
mg v Af m d vBf

0 kg m/s
m A v Af m B v Bf
Note that the familiar, expandable algebraic representation for momentum conservation falls out of the
geometric representation above it, which deepens schematic interconnections and presumably lends
coherence to later problem solving. Specifically, the graphical method gives students a ballpark
expectation for their algebraic solutions and clarifies the nature of the dependence of momentum on
velocity and mass. Additionally, this representation may help students quantify momentum
conservation in so called non-conservative cases, where momentum is lost to forces acting from
outside the defined system.
Examples of a momentum bar representation for conservation of momentum problems:

1) A 40 kg girl rollerblades at 4 m/s toward her 20 kg dog, who is running at 7 m/s in the opposite
direction. The dog leaps into the girls arms and they continue rolling together. Determine their
velocity.
Before

After

4 m/s
20 kg

Vf = ?
m

40 kg

40 kg + 20 kg

-7 m/s

p total
m g vgi

p'total

m d vdi

(40 kg)(4.0 m/s) + (20 kg)(-7.0 m/s)

160 kg m/s + (-140 kg m/s)
20 kg m/s

(m g m d )v f
(40 kg + 20 kg)v f
(70 kg)v f

vf

20 kg m/s
0.29 m/s
70 kg

2) A 0.03 kg bullet travelling at 300 m/s ricochets off a wall at 100 m/s in the opposite direction.
Determine the momentum transferred to the wall-earth system.

Before

After

300
m/s
0.03 kg
0.03 kg

(0.03 kg)(300 m/s)

9.0 kg m/s

-100
m/s

p'total

p total
m b vbi

pwall

m b v bf

p wall

(0.03 kg)(-100 m/s) + p wall

- 3.0 kg m/s + p wall

p wall = 9.0 kg m/s - (-3.0 kg m/s)

p wall = 12.0 kg m/s