BY: Angela Teresa G.

Antonio Joanna Erica Pontanal

Cases of Linear Momentum and Collision

The sports announcer says, "Going into the all-star break, the Chicago White Sox have the momentum." The headlines declare "Chicago Bulls Gaining Momentum." The coach pumps up his team at half-time, saying "You have the momentum; the critical need is that you use that momentum and bury them in this third quarter."

Momentum is a commonly used term in sports. A team that has the momentum is on the move and is going to take some effort to stop. A team that has a lot of momentum is really on the move and is going to be hard to stop. Momentum is a physics term; it refers to the quantity of motion that an object has. A sports team that is on the move has the momentum. If an object is in motion (on the move) then it has momentum. Momentum can be defined as "mass in motion." All objects have mass; so if an object is moving, then it has momentum - it has its mass in motion. The amount of momentum that an object has is dependent upon two variables: how much stuff is moving and how fast the stuff is moving. Momentum depends upon the variables mass and velocity. In terms of an equation, the momentum of an object is equal to the mass of the object times the velocity of the object.

Momentum = mass velocity In physics, the symbol for the quantity momentum is the lower case "p". Thus, the above equation can be rewritten as p=mv where m is the mass and v is the velocity. The equation illustrates that momentum is directly proportional to an object's mass and directly proportional to the object's velocity.

The units for momentum would be mass units times velocity units. The standard metric unit of momentum is the kgm/s. While the kgm/s is the standard metric unit of momentum, there are a variety of other units that are acceptable (though not conventional) units of momentum. Examples include kgmi/hr, kgkm/hr, and gcm/s. In each of these examples, a mass unit is multiplied by a velocity unit to provide a momentum unit. This is consistent with the equation for momentum.

Here is an example of Linear Momentum

Collision: Astronaut Catch

Imagine that you are hovering next to the space shuttle in earth-orbit and your buddy of equal mass who is moving 4 m/s (with respect to the ship) bumps into you. If she holds onto you, then how fast do the two of you move after the collision?

A question like this involves momentum principles. In any instance in which two objects collide and can be considered isolated from all other net forces, the conservation of momentum principle can be utilized to determine the post-collision velocities of the two objects. Collisions between objects are governed by laws of momentum and energy. When a collision occurs in an isolated system, the total momentum of the system of objects is conserved. Provided that there are no net external forces acting upon the two astronauts, the combined momentum of the two astronauts before the collision equals the combined momentum of the two astronauts after the collision.

The mathematics of this problem is simplified by the fact that before the collision, there is only one object in motion and after the collision both objects have the same velocity. That is to say, a momentum analysis would show that all the momentum was concentrated in the moving astronaut before the collision. And after the collision, all the momentum was the result of a single object (the combination of the two astronauts) moving at an easily predictable velocity. Since there is twice as much mass in motion after the collision, it must be moving with one-half the velocity. Thus, the two astronauts move together with a velocity of 2 m/s after the collision.

Collision
Collision is a short duration interaction between two bodies or more than two bodies simultaneously causing change in motion of bodies involved due to internal forces acted between them during this . Collisions involve forces (there is a change in velocity). The magnitude of the velocity difference at impact is called the closing speed. All collisions conserve momentum.

Here are some examples of Collision

Here is one case where two cars collide in an intersection. One of the cars have slightly moved the other car because of the transfer of energy when collisions happens. That why when the cars collide both have damages in them.

Summary
Momentum can be defined as "mass in motion." All objects

have mass; so if an object is moving, then it has momentum - it has its mass in motion. Momentum depends upon the variables mass and velocity. Collision is short duration interaction between two bodies or more than two bodies simultaneously causing change in motion of bodies involved due to internal forces acted between them during this . All collisions conserve momentum. Collisions involve forces (there is a change in velocity).