Momentum

Question 1

What is momentum?

Answer 1

A property all moving objects have: mass x velocity

Question 2

Is momentum a vector or scalar quantity?

Answer 2

vector: magnitude + direction

Question 3

if an object is travelling in the “forward” direction, it has a

Answer 3

positive momentum

Question 4

if an object is travelling in the “backward” direction, it has a

Answer 4

negative momentum

Question 5

Conservation of momentum principle =

Answer 5

the total momentum before = the total momentum after

Question 6

In some instances the momentum of an object might be 0, if they are stationary, thus the total momentum after an event must also be 0. EXAMPLE OF GUN:

Answer 6

The fun before it’s fired is still, so it has a momentum of 0

When a bullet is fired, the bullet is moving so it has momentum. At one point we treat the gun and bullet as one large particle, so the system, the gun has to compensate for this - it recoils backwards with the same momentum that the bullet had, and the momentum goes back to being 0.