Momentum in physics is pretty easy to understand once you break it down.
It’s simply the product of how heavy something is and how fast it’s moving. You can write this as ( p = mv ).
Mass (( m )): This is just how much "stuff" is in an object. Imagine a big rock versus a small pebble. The rock has more mass.
Velocity (( v )): This tells you how fast the object is going and in what direction. For example, if a car is going north at 60 miles per hour, that’s its velocity.
What’s really interesting about momentum is that it's a vector. This means it has two important parts: how big it is (or how strong) and which way it’s pointing.
Because of this, momentum is super useful when we look at things like crashes or how objects move in physics.
Momentum in physics is pretty easy to understand once you break it down.
It’s simply the product of how heavy something is and how fast it’s moving. You can write this as ( p = mv ).
Mass (( m )): This is just how much "stuff" is in an object. Imagine a big rock versus a small pebble. The rock has more mass.
Velocity (( v )): This tells you how fast the object is going and in what direction. For example, if a car is going north at 60 miles per hour, that’s its velocity.
What’s really interesting about momentum is that it's a vector. This means it has two important parts: how big it is (or how strong) and which way it’s pointing.
Because of this, momentum is super useful when we look at things like crashes or how objects move in physics.