17 Conservation of Momentum

17 – Conservation of momentum
Learning Objectives
Understand the concept of impulse and be able to analyse
force-time graphs.
Be able to derive and apply the law of conservation of
momentum.
Analyse elastic collisions and explosions.
Collisions and momentum
During the collision
Use Newton's Third Law to write an equation linking the force that B
exerts on A, FBA and the force the A exerts on B, FAB.
Now use Newton’s Second Law (written in terms of rate of change of

momentum, not F = ma) to replace the forces.
Collisions and momentum
Now write out formulas for the change of momentum of object A, ∆pA
and the change of momentum of object B, ∆pB in terms of the masses
and the initial and final velocities.
Total momentum
Using the formula you have written on the previous page, write
down a formula which has the total initial momentum on one side of
the equation and the total final momentum on the other side.
Explain in words what this equation is saying.
Law of Conservation of Momentum
In the absence of external forces, the vector sum of the initial
momentums of a closed system is equal to the vector sums of the
final momentums.
𝑝 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 ( 𝐴) +𝑝 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 (𝐵 )=𝑝 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 ( 𝐴) +𝑝 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 (𝐵 )

𝑚 𝐴 𝑢 𝐴 +𝑚 𝐵 𝑢 𝐵 =𝑚 𝐴 𝑣 𝐴 + 𝑚𝐵 𝑣 𝐵
Question
The cannon has a mass of 800 kg and fires a cannonball of mass 6 kg

at a speed of 80ms-1. Using the principle of conservation of
momentum and showing all of your working (total initial momentum
is zero here), calculate the recoil velocity of the cannon.
Question
This time, the cannon is raised to an angle of 40o above the

horizontal. Calculate the recoil velocity of the cannon. Is the
magnitude of the cannons momentum the same as that of the
cannon ball? Explain this.
Momentum Questions
1. A 900 kg car coming from the north at 20 ms-1 collides

head-on with one coming from the south at 28 ms -1 with
the mass 750 kg. If the cars stay together after collision, find
the velocity of the wreck.
2. A 120 g ball moving at +2.1 ms-1 hits a 190 g ball at rest in an

elastic collision. Find the velocities of the balls after the
collision, assuming that they are parallel to the first ball's
initial velocity.
3. Estimate the order of magnitude of the a) momentum b)

kinetic energy of a running cat.
Newton's Third Law & Momentum
Newton's third law: All forces in the universe occur in equal but
oppositely directed pairs. There are no isolated forces; for every external
force that acts on an object there is a force of equal magnitude but
opposite direction which acts back on the object which exerted that
external force.
Since we have no examples of it being violated in nature, it is a useful tool

for analyzing situations which are somewhat counter-intuitive. For
example, when a small truck collides head-on with a large truck.
Consider the following situation where a small truck collides head-
on with a large truck, both travelling at the same speed.
The time of contact will be the same for both trucks.
In the head-on collision:

• Which truck will experience the greatest force?
• Which truck will experience the greatest impulse?
• Which truck will experience the greatest change in momentum?
• Which truck will experience the greatest change in velocity?
• Which truck will experience the greatest acceleration?
• Which truck would you rather be in during the collision?
Comparison of the collision variables
for the two trucks:
Newton's third law dictates that

the forces on the trucks are
equal but opposite in direction.
Impulse is force multiplied by time, and time of contact is the same for both, so
the impulse is the same in magnitude for the two trucks. Change in momentum
is equal to impulse, so changes in momentum are equal.
With equal change in momentum and smaller mass, the change in velocity is
larger for the smaller truck. Since acceleration is change in velocity over change
in time, the acceleration is greater for the smaller truck.
Conservation of momentum
When the net force on a system is zero the momentum does not
change, i.e. its stays the same. We say it is conserved.
Note: ‘system’ may refer to a single body or a collection of many

bodies.
Consider a block that collides with a stationary block and sticks

together on impact. Can we apply conservation of momentum to the
colliding blocks?
6.0 ms-
1
8.0
4.0
kg
kg
What about the kinetic energy, is this conserved?
Kinetic energy is not conserved in this totally inelastic collision. What has
happened to the missing 48J?
The energy has been transferred into other forms. E.g. an increase in the
thermal energy of the blocks and the surrounding air or energy to deform
the blocks during the collision and/or some sound energy.
Elastic collisions
When kinetic energy is conserved in a collision, the collision is said to be
elastic. When kinetic energy is not conserved, the collision is ineleastic.
When the bodies stick together after a collision, the collision is said to be
totally inelastic.
Before collision
Let us consider the collision to be elastic, i.e. kinetic energy is conserved.

v2
v1 After collision
8.0
4.0
kg
kg
Write two equations: one considering conservation of momentum and the other considering
conservation of k.e.
Elastic collision
Hence, +
and
Elastic collisions
An elastic collision is one in which both
the momentum (which is always
conserved) and the kinetic energy are
conserved.
If we know a collision is perfectly elastic,

then we can calculate the velocities after
the collision from data about the masses
of the objects and their initial masses.
Question.
Object A is initially moving with a velocity of 5ms-1 and has a mass of 10kg.
It collides with object B which is stationary and has a mass of 15kg. If we
know the collision is elastic, by using both conservation of momentum and
conservation of K.E. calculate the velocities after the collision.
Kinetic energy and momentum
Note. That using momentum, we can obtain a useful
additional formula for kinetic energy:
Can you derive a formula for kinetic energy which has

only mass and momentum?
It all depends on the system.
Consider a ball that you drop from rest from a certain height. As the ball
falls, its speed and hence its momentum increases so momentum does
not stay the same! I.e. momentum appears not to be conserved.
This is to be expected – there is an external force acting on the ball, its

weight, hence momentum of the ball is not conserved.
So, is conservation of momentum a universal law?
Yes. However, if we include the Earth as part of the system then there are
no external forces and total momentum will be conserved. This means
that the Earth moves up a bit as the ball falls!
More momentum Questions
1. A cart moves in a horizontal line with constant speed . Rain starts
to fall and the cart fills with water at a rate of .
(a) Derive a formula for the force that must be exerted on the cart.
(b) Find the force if and .
2.

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17 – Conservation of momentum

Now use Newton’s Second Law (written in terms of rate of change of

𝑝 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 ( 𝐴) +𝑝 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 (𝐵 )=𝑝 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 ( 𝐴) +𝑝 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 (𝐵 )

The cannon has a mass of 800 kg and fires a cannonball of mass 6 kg

This time, the cannon is raised to an angle of 40o above the

1. A 900 kg car coming from the north at 20 ms-1 collides

2. A 120 g ball moving at +2.1 ms-1 hits a 190 g ball at rest in an

3. Estimate the order of magnitude of the a) momentum b)

Since we have no examples of it being violated in nature, it is a useful tool

In the head-on collision:

Newton's third law dictates that

Note: ‘system’ may refer to a single body or a collection of many

Consider a block that collides with a stationary block and sticks

Let us consider the collision to be elastic, i.e. kinetic energy is conserved.

If we know a collision is perfectly elastic,

Can you derive a formula for kinetic energy which has

This is to be expected – there is an external force acting on the ball, its

So, is conservation of momentum a universal law?

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