Newton’s Laws and Linear Momentum

Claimed by Patrick Todd

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The Main Idea

Linear momentum is a vector quantity which is defined by the product of an object's mass, generally denoted as the lowercase "m", and its velocity (a vector), v. Linear momentum is represented by the letter "p" and is generally referred to as momentum for short.

Single Particles

Like velocity, linear momentum is a vector quantity, possessing a direction as well as a magnitude:

[math]\displaystyle{ \mathbf{p} = m \mathbf{v} }[/math]

where p is the vector stating the object's momentum in the three directions of three-dimensional space, and where v is the three-dimensional velocity vector giving the object's rate of movement in each direction, and m is the object's mass.

A Computational Model

How do we visualize or predict using this topic. Consider embedding some vpython code here Teach hands-on with GlowScript

Examples

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Connectedness

1. How is this topic connected to something that you are interested in?
2. How is it connected to your major?
3. Is there an interesting industrial application?

History

Put this idea in historical context. Give the reader the Who, What, When, Where, and Why.

See also

• http://www.physicsbook.gatech.edu/Velocity
• http://www.physicsbook.gatech.edu/Mass
• http://www.physicsbook.gatech.edu/Vectors
• http://www.physicsbook.gatech.edu/Newton%E2%80%99s_Second_Law_of_Motion

Further reading

Chabay, Sherwood. (2015). Matter and Interactions (4th ed., Vol. 1). Raleigh, North Carolina: Wiley.

External links

• http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/physics/chapter9section1.rhtml

References

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