Summary of Introductory Momentum Equations
Basic definition:
Momentum is symbolized with a small p. It is equal to mass times velocity. Mass is symbolized with a small m, velocity with a small v.
| Momentum equals mass times velocity. |
Here is an example calculation; notice that the unit for momentum is kg-m/s.
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Line 1: Definition
of momentum. Line 2: Enter example values for mass and velocity. Line 3: Calculate the resultant momentum. |
Thus, an object with a mass of 3.0 kg that is traveling at a velocity of 4.0 m/s has a momentum of 12 kg-m/s.
Momentum is a vector. The size of this vector is equal to the value of the mass times the velocity. This size of the momentum is 12 kg-m/s in the above example. The direction of the momentum vector is the same as the direction of the velocity.
| Related Problems | |||
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