Momentum and Collisions
- Conservation of momentum
- Collisions
- Explosions
Conservation of momentum
The conservation of energy is a very important thing in Physics. However, energy is not the only thing that is conserved.
Unless a force is acting, momentum is also conserved. This means that the total momentum before something happens will be equal to the total momentum after that thing happens.
Collisions: example A bus and a car are each travelling at 40mph, but in opposite directions. When they collide the car remains in contact with the bus, and they both continue at 15mph in the direction the bus was travelling. If the car’s mass is 2000kg, what is the mass of the bus?
Explosions: example A cannon, initially stationary, fires a 15kg cannonball at 200m/s. If the cannon itself has a mass of 1500kg, with what speed does it recoil?
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