Chapter 7- Linear Momentum

Old assignments and midterm exams

(solutions have been posted on
the web)
can be picked up in my office

(LB-212)
All marks, including assignments, have
been posted on the web.
http://ilc2.phys.uregina.ca/~barbi/academic/phys109/marks.pdf

Please, verify that all your marks have

been entered in the list.
Tutorial session will start at 5pm tomorrow
A very interesting seminar.
I encourage you to attend.
Chapter 7

• Momentum and Its Relation to Force

• Conservation of Momentum
• Collisions and Impulse
• Conservation of Energy and Momentum in Collisions
• Elastic Collisions in One Dimension
• Inelastic Collisions
• Collisions in Two or Three Dimensions
Recalling Last Lecture
 Conservative and Nonconservative Forces

When the work done by a force does NOT depend on the path taken, this FORCE is
said to be CONSERVATIVE.

When the work done by a force DOES depend on the path taken, this FORCE is
said to be NONCONSERVATIVE.

Nonconservative forces do NOT have a potential energy associated to them.

Thus, potential energy can be defined only for conservative forces.

(6-14)

Eq. 6-14 tells us that the work done by nonconservative forces is equal to the
total change in kinetic and potential energies.
 Mechanical Energy and its Conservation

“ If only conservative forces are acting, the TOTAL MECHANICAL ENERGY of a

system neither increases nor decreases in any process. It stays constant
it
is CONSERVED”

POWER:

Power is the rate at which work is done, or the rate at which energy is
transformed.
(6-18)

In the SI system the unit of power is: 1 hp = 746 W

In general, if an object moves with average velocity , the power can be written as

(6-19)
Today
 Momentum and Its Relation to Force

Momentum is a vector symbolized by the symbol p, and is defined as

(6-20)

The momentum of an object tells how hard (or easy) is to change its state of
motion.

Example: It is easier to stop a car when it is moving at 10 km/h than when it is

moving at 100 Km/h.

But, note that it will also depend on the mass of the car: a heavy truck moving at
10 Km/h is more difficult to be brought to rest than a small Mercedes SMART
(which much lighter than a truck) moving at same speed.
 Momentum and Its Relation to Force

Recalling that acceleration is the rate with which velocity changes, we can then write:

But,

Defining: and , we can write

(6-21)

The right side of the equation 6.21 is the net force acting on the object. Then:

(6-22)
 Momentum and Its Relation to Force

(6-22)

Eq. 6-22 is another way of expressing Newton’s second law. However, it is a more
general definition because it introduces the situation where the mass may change.

Example: A rocket burning fuel when lifting off or maneuvering in space:

As it burns fuel, the rocket becomes lighter

So, its total mass changes and so does its momentum (even if you
manage to keep its velocity constant)
 Collision and Impulse

Collisions are common event in everyday life.

During a collision, objects are deformed due to the large forces involved.

These forces are generally very strong, much stronger than other interactions
between the colliding objects and their surrounding environment, and act for a very
short period of time ∆t.

We can use eq. 6-22 and define the impulse on an object as:

(6-23)

In general, the forces involved in the process is not constant

during ∆t, but we can approximate the resulting force by the
average force acting during this interval of time:
(6-24)
 Conservation of Momentum

Let’s consider a collision between two billiard balls as shown in the figure.

Assume that the two balls form a system isolated

from the external world:

in other words
there is NO net force acting

on the billiard balls other than the interaction
between them.

The momentum of each ball before and after the

collision is:

Object A: ,

Object B: ,
 Conservation of Momentum

Recalling previous slide: The momentum of each ball before and after the collision is:

Object A: ,

Object B: ,

Now, ball A exerts a force on ball B.

According to the general form of Newton’s

second law:

But,

On the other hand, according to Newton’s third law, B exerts a force

 Conservation of Momentum

We have then:

Combining the two equations, we find:

(6-25)

Equation 6-25 tells that the total momentum of the system (the sum of the
momentum of the two balls) before the collision is equal to the total momentum of
the system after the collision IF the net force acting on the system is zero

isolated system. This is known as Conservation of Total Momentum.

The above equation can be extended to include any number of objects such that the
only forces are the interaction between the objects in the system.
 Conservation of Momentum

Momentum conservation works for a rocket as long as we consider the rocket and its
fuel to be one system, and account for the mass loss of the rocket.

Here you can consider a frame at rest relative to the rocket before it lifts off

Its initial momentum is then zero. As it takes off, the fuel burns expelling gas in one
direction

this gives momentum to the gas

in order to obey momentum conservation, the rocket has to move in opposite

direction such that the total momentum (rocket + gas) remains zero.
 Conservation of Energy and Momentum in Collisions

In general, we can identify two different types of collisions:

1. Elastic collision
2. Inelastic collision

In elastic collisions the total kinetic energy of a system is conserved.

There is no energy dissipate in form of heat or other form of energy.

An example is the collision between the two billiard

balls discussed in the previous slides:

(6-26)

In inelastic collision, there is NO conservation of

kinetic energy.

Some of the total initial kinetic energy is

transformed into some other form of energy.
 Conservation of Energy and Momentum in Collisions

Example of inelastic collision:

With inelastic collisions, some of the initial kinetic

energy is lost to thermal or potential energy. It may
also be gained during explosions, as there is the
addition of chemical or nuclear energy.

A completely inelastic collision is one where the

objects stick together afterwards, so there is only one
final velocity.
 Conservation of Energy and Momentum in Collisions

Note:

Regardless whether we have inelastic or elastic collisions, the total momentum is

always conserved if the system is isolated.

For instance, the collision between two trains as depicted below is inelastic. Part of
the total initial kinetic energy might have be transformed into thermal or other form of
energy.

However, the total momentum of the closed (isolated) system (two trains) should be
conserved.

(The textbook
has a good
example of this
problem).
 Conservation of Energy and Momentum in Collisions

Note:

Also…

The total energy (the sum of all energies) in a closed (isolated system)
is ALWAYS conserved.
 Conservation of Energy and Momentum in Collisions

Elastic collision in one dimension:

Here we have two objects colliding elastically. We know the masses and the initial
speeds.

Since both momentum and kinetic energy are

conserved, we can write two equations. This
allows us to solve for the two unknown final
speeds.

From conservation of momentum:

We can rearrange this equation and write:

 Conservation of Energy and Momentum in Collisions

Elastic collision in one dimension:

Since it is an elastic collision, the total kinetic energy is conserved:

using that , then

 Conservation of Energy and Momentum in Collisions
Elastic collision in one dimension:

We then have two equations from total momentum and kinetic energy conservation:

Replacing the last equation into the first one:

(6-27)

Eq. 6-27 tell us that in ONE DIMENSION elastic head-on

collision, the relative velocity between the objects have the same magnitude but in
opposite direction before and after the collision.
 Conservation of Energy and Momentum in Collisions

Collision in two or more dimensions

That is just a generalization of what

we have discussed in the previous
slides.

We have to make use of the concept of vector

components.

In the figure, considering the system isolated, the total momentum has to be
conserved in both x and y directions.

In this particular case, the reference system is taken such B is initially (before the
collision) at rest and A moves in the x direction before the collision.
 Conservation of Energy and Momentum in Collisions

Collision in two or more dimensions

We then have:
(i)

(ii)

It follows then, using the above expressions in (i) and (ii), that:
⇒ This gives a system of two equations
and three variables. if you can measure any
of these variables, the other two can be
calculated from system of equations.
 Linear Momentum

Problem 7-1 (textbook) A constant friction force of 25 N acts on a 65-kg skier for
20 s. What is the skier’s change in velocity?
 Linear Momentum

Problem 7-1 :

From Newton’s second law,

r r
∆p = F∆t

For a constant mass object,

r r
∆p = m ∆v
r
Equate the two expressions for ∆ p
r
r r r F∆t
F∆t = m∆v → ∆v =
m
If the skier moves to the right, then the speed will decrease, because the friction force
is to the left.
F ∆t ( 2 5 N )( 2 0 s )
∆v = − = − = − 7 .7 m s
m 65 kg
The skier loses 7.7 m/s of speed.
 Linear Momentum

Problem 7-4 (textbook) A child in a boat throws a 6.40-kg package out horizontally
with a speed of 10.0 m/s Fig. 7–31. Calculate the velocity of the boat immediately
after, assuming it was initially at rest. The mass of the child is 26.0 kg, and that of the
boat is 45.0 kg. Ignore water resistance.
 Linear Momentum

Problem 7-4 :

The throwing of the package is a momentum-conserving

action, if the water resistance is ignored.

Let “A” represent the boat and child together, and let “B” represent the package.

Choose the direction that the package is thrown as the positive direction. Apply
conservation of momentum, with the initial velocity of both objects being 0.

p in itia l = p fin a l → (m A + m B )v = m A v ′A + m B v B′ →
m B v B′ ( 6 . 4 0 k g ) (1 0 . 0 m s )
v ′A = − = − = − 0 .9 0 1 m s
m A ( 2 6 .0 k g + 4 5 .0 k g )
The boat and child move in the opposite direction as the thrown package.
 Linear Momentum

Problem 7-34 (textbook) An internal explosion breaks an object, initially at rest, into
two pieces, one of which has 1.5 times the mass of the other. If 7500 J were released
in the explosion, how much kinetic energy did each piece acquire?
.
 Linear Momentum

Problem 7-34

Use conservation of momentum in one dimension, since the particles will separate
and travel in opposite directions. Call the direction of the heavier particle’s motion the
positive direction. Let A represent the heavier particle, and B represent the lighter
particle. We have
m A = 1.5 m B vA = vB = 0
m B v B′
p initial = p final → 0 = m A v A′ + m B v B′ → v A′ = − = − 23 v B′
mA
The negative sign indicates direction.
Since there was no mechanical energy before the explosion, the kinetic energy of
the particles after the explosion must equal the energy added.
2
E added = KE A′ + KE B′ = 12 m A v ′A2 + 12 mB v B′ 2 = 1
2 (1.5mB ) ( 23 vB′ ) + 12 m B v B′ 2 = 5
3 ( 1
2 )
m B v B′ 2 = 53 KE B′
KE B′ = 53 E added = 3
5 ( 7500 J ) = 4500 J KE A′ = Eadded − KE B′ = 7500 J − 4500 J = 3000 J

Thus: K E A′ = 3.0 × 10 3 J K E B′ = 4.5 × 10 3 J