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2.3.3 Linear Momentum and Collisions

Introduction
• When Newton devised his second law, he considered the product of mass and velocity as a measure
of an object’s “quantity of motion.” Today, we call the product of a particle’s mass and velocity as
linear momentum, ⃗p
Linear Momentum
• The linear momentum of an object of mass m, moving with velocity ⃗v is the product of its mass
and velocity:
P =m ⃗v
⃗ (1)
• The SI unit of is measured in units of kg·m/s.
• Since velocity is a vector quantity, momentum is also a vector quantity. Momentum has a magnitude
( ⃗
m|v| , mass times speed) and a direction the same as that of the velocity vector.

• We often express the momentum of a particle in terms of its components.

Px = m vx and Py = m vy (2)
• The magnitude of the momentum of an object of mass can be related to its kinetic energy K.E:
P2
KE = (3)
2m
• The importance of momentum can be traced to its close relation to Newton’s second law,
∑ ⃗F = mɑ
⃗ (4)
• since instantaneous acceleration a of the particle is defined as

⃗ = lim Δ ⃗v
ɑ (5)
Δ t→ 0 Δ t
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• so Newton’s second law can be written as

v
Δ⃗
∑ ⃗F = m lim (6)
Δ t→ 0 Δ t

• Now if m is constant, the right side of this expression is just the instantaneous rate change of
momentum of the particle.
• To show this, mΔ ⃗v is the change of momentum during the interval Δt:
m Δ⃗
v = m ( v⃗f − v⃗i ) = m v⃗f −m v⃗i = p⃗f− p⃗i =Δ ⃗p (7)
• so we obtain Newton’s second law in terms of momentum.
• The vector sum of forces acting on a particle equals the rate of change of momentum of the particle
with respect to time:
Δ ⃗p d⃗
p
∑ ⃗F = lim
Δ t→ 0 Δ t
≡ ∑ ⃗F =
dt
(8)

• It is actually more general than our original form of the Newton’s second law, because it includes
the possibility of a change in momentum resulting from a change in mass as well as from a change
in velocity.
• Note that both forms of the 2nd law of Newton’s are valid only in “inertial frames of reference”.
• If a constant force F acts on an object, the impulse ⃗I delivered to the object over a time interval Δt
is given by:
⃗I = ⃗FΔ t (9)
• Impulse is a vector quantity with the same direction as the constant force acting on the object.
• When a single constant force acts on an object, Equation 8 can be written as:
⃗I= ⃗
F Δ t = Δ ⃗p=m v⃗f −m v⃗i (10)
• which is called the impulse–momentum theorem.

Conservation of Linear Momentum

• The law of conservation of momentum stated that “when the net external force on a system of
objects is zero, the total momentum of the system remains constant”.
• It can also be stated as the total momentum of an isolated system of objects remains constant.
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• Fig 1.2 shows an isolated system of two particles before and after they collide. By “isolated,” we
mean that no external forces, such as the gravitational force or friction, act on the system.

Before the collision After the collision

• Before the collision, the velocities of the two particles are ⃗v 1 i and ⃗v 2 i ; after the collision, the
velocities are ⃗v 1 f and ⃗v 2 f .
• The impulse–momentum theorem applied to m1 becomes
⃗
F 21 Δ t = m 1 ⃗v 1 f −m1 ⃗v 1 i *
• Likewise, for m2 , we have
⃗
F 12 Δ t = m 2 ⃗v 2 f −m 2 ⃗v 2 i **
• Newton’s third law states that at all times these two forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in
direction:
⃗
F 21 = −⃗
F 12 ***
• In addition, the two forces act over the same time interval. As a result, we have
⃗
F 21 Δ t = − ⃗
F 12 Δ t
• substituting the impulse-momentum Eqn * and ** into the above expression we get:
m 1 ⃗v 1 f −m1 ⃗v 1 i = −(m 2 ⃗v 2 f−m 2 ⃗v 2 i )
• This equation can be rearranged to give the following important result:
m1 ⃗
v1i + m2 ⃗
v 2 i = m 1 ⃗v 1 f + m2 ⃗v 2f (11)
• This result is a special case of the law of conservation of momentum and it is true for isolated
systems containing any number of interacting objects.
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Collisions
• A collision is the event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in about a relatively
short time.
• The total momentum of the system just before the collision equals the total momentum just after the
collision as long as the system may be considered isolated.
• The total kinetic energy, on the other hand, is generally not conserved in a collision because some of
the kinetic energy is converted to internal energy, sound energy, and the work needed to
permanently deform the objects.
We can summarize the types of collisions as follows:
• Elastic collision, both momentum and kinetic energy are conserved.
m1 ⃗
v1i + m2 ⃗
v 2 i = m 1 ⃗v 1 f + m2 ⃗v 2f
1 1 1 1
m 1 v 21 i + m 2 v 22 i = m 1 v 21 f + m 2 v 22 f
2 2 2 2
• Inelastic collision, momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not.
• For Perfectly inelastic collision, the two colliding objects stick together after the collision, so their
final velocities are the same.
m1 ⃗
v1i + m2 ⃗
v 2 i = (m1 + m2) ⃗v f
m1 ⃗
v 1 i + m2 ⃗v 2 i
⃗v f =
(m1 + m 2 )
1 1 1 1
m 1 v 21 i + m 2 v 22 i ≠ m 1 v 21 f + m 2 v 22 f
2 2 2 2
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Center of Mass
• The center of mass is the point at which all the mass can be considered to be "concentrated". it is a
mass-weighted average position of the particles.
• For a solid object, which we often model as having a continuous distribution of matter, locating the
center of mass often frequently requires calculus.
• However, symmetry considerations can be helpful. For example, whenever a homogeneous solid
object has a geometric center, such as a billiard ball, an ice cube, or a can of frozen orange juice, the
center of mass is at the geometric center.
• Suppose we have several particles A, B, etc., with masses m A , mB , .... Let the coordinates of A be
( xA , yA ), let those of B be ( xB , yB ), and so on.
• We define the center of mass of the system as the point having coordinates ( xcm , ycm ) given by:
m1 x 1 +m2 x 2+ m 3 x 3 +·· ·+mn x n
x cm =
m 1 +m 2 +m 3 +· ··+mn
(12)
m y +m2 y 2+ m 3 y 3 +···+m n y n
y cm = 1 1
m 1 +m 2 +m 3 +· ··+mn
• or
n n

∑ mi x i ∑ mi y i
i=1 i=1
x cm = n
and y cm = n
(13)
∑ mi ∑ mi
i=1 i=1