Conservation of Momentum

• As discussed previously, Newton’s 3rd Law (in conjunction with the 2nd Law) implies that the total momentum of two interacting objects is conserved (ie does not change in time).

• Air Track Demos:

  • “Elastic Collision” of two equal mass objects:
    
    
    
  • “Totally Inelastic Collision” - equal mass objects:

Momentum is conserved in both these cases, but the final motions are quite different. How do we understand the origin of this difference?

v0

Previous slide

Next slide

Back to first slide

View graphic version