momentum
Sign in to saveIn Newtonian mechanics, momentum (: momenta or momentums; more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass and is its velocity (also a vector quantity), then the object's momentum (from Latin pellere "push, drive") is: \mathbf{p} = m \mathbf{v}. In the International System of Units (SI), the unit of measurement of momentum is the kilogram metre per second (kg⋅m/s), which is dimensionally equivalent to the newton-second.
AI overview
Momentum is a property of moving objects that combines their mass and velocity, and it always has both a magnitude and a direction. Understanding momentum matters because it's fundamental to predicting how objects move and interact in physics, measured in units of kilogram-meters per second.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Physical quantity.name
- Momentum
- Physical quantity.image
- frameless|A pool break-off shot
- Physical quantity.caption
- Momentum of a pool cue ball is transferred to the racked balls after collision.
- Physical quantity.unit
- kg⋅m⋅s−1
- Physical quantity.dimension
- wikidata
- Physical quantity.otherunits
- slug⋅ft/s
- Physical quantity.symbols
- p, p
- Physical quantity.conserved
- Yes
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
46 sectionsContents
- Classical
- Single particle
- Many particles
- Relation to force
- Conservation
- Dependence on reference frame
- Application to collisions
- Elastic collisions
- Inelastic collisions
- Multiple dimensions
- Objects of variable mass
- Generalized
- Lagrangian mechanics
- Hamiltonian mechanics
- Symmetry and conservation
- Momentum density
- In deformable bodies and fluids
- Conservation in a continuum
- Acoustic waves
- In electromagnetics
- Particle in a field
- Conservation
- Vacuum
- Media
- Non-classical
- Quantum mechanical
- Relativistic
- Lorentz invariance
- Four-vector formulation
- History of the concept
- Impetus
- John Philoponus
- Ibn Sīnā
- Peter Olivi, Jean Buridan
- Quantity of motion<span class="anchor" id="Quantity of motion"></span>
- René Descartes
- Christiaan Huygens
- Momentum
- John Wallis
- Gottfried Leibniz
- Isaac Newton
- John Jennings
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (: momenta or momentums; more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass and is its velocity (also a vector quantity), then the object's momentum (from Latin pellere "push, drive") is: \mathbf{p} = m \mathbf{v}. In the International System of Units (SI), the unit of measurement of momentum is the kilogram metre per second (kg⋅m/s), which is dimensionally equivalent to the newton-second.
Newton's second law of motion states that the rate of change of a body's momentum is equal to the net force acting on it. Momentum depends on the frame of reference, but in any inertial frame of reference, it is a conserved quantity, meaning that if a closed system is not affected by external forces, its total momentum does not change. Momentum is also conserved in special relativity (with a modified formula) and, in a modified form, in electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, and general relativity. It is an expression of one of the fundamental symmetries of space and time: translational symmetry.