Momentum Flashcards
What is the equation of momentum?
Momentum (p) (in kg m/s) = mass m (kg) x velocity, v (in m/s)
What is the equation for force?
Force = change in momentum / time taken Force= (mv - mu) / t
What is the relationship between momentum before and after a collision?
Moment before the collision = moment after the collision
How do you increase momentum?
force x time = increase in momentum
What is Newton’s 1st Law?
Things do not speed up, slow down or change direction unless you push (or pull) them
What is Newton’s 2nd Law of motion?
- The bigger the force acting on an object the faster the object will speed up
- Objects with greater mass require bigger forces than those with smaller mass to make them speed up (accelerate) at the same rate
What is force?
A vector quantity
How do air bags help increase car safety?
- Air bags increase the time taken for the head’s momentum to reach zero, so reduces the forces on it.
- They also act as a sort of cushion and prevent cuts
How do helmets help increase car safety?
-A motor cyclists safety helmets padded inside so as to extend time of any collision
How do seat belts help increase car safety?
- Stop you tumbling around inside the car if there is a collision
- However they are designed to stretch a bit in a collision, this increases the time taken for the body’s momentum to reach zero so reduces the forces on it
How do crumple zones help increase car safety?
- They are areas of a vehicle designed to crush in a controlled way in a collision
- They increase the time taken to change the momentum in a crush which reduces the force induced
How do these car features help increase car safety?
- When you stop you momentum will reach 0
- Change in momentum = force x time
- If you increase the time taken to stop
- The force acting will be less
- Therefore you are less likely to be hurt
What is Newton’s Third Law?
If Object A exerts a force on object B then object B exerts the exact opposite force on object A
Explain Newton’s Third Law
- That means is you push something say a shopping trolley, the trolley will push back against you just as hard
- And as soon as you stop pushing so does the trolley
- The two forces are acting on different objects e.g. ice skaters:
- When skater A pushes on skater B (the ‘action’ force) she feels an equal force and opposite force from skater B’s hand (the reaction force). Both skaters feel the same sized force in opposite directions and so accelerate away from each other
- However skater A would be accelerated more than skater B if she had a smaller mass because F =ma - It is the same sort of thing if you go swimming. You can push back against the water with your arms and legs and the water pushes you forwards with an equal-sized force in the opposite direction
What is the difference between vector and scalar quantities?
- Vectors have size and direction
2. Scalar quantities only have size