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MEI M2 Help...

Ok so basically I just want to clear a few things up.

What is Impulse and can you give me a clear example...? ( I know it is force x time and mv - mu but what does this actually mean in terms of real like)

What is momentum and can you give me an example...? (same with as above really understand the formulas etc but dont really understand what it it)

Thanks !!! :colone:

Reply 1

Inactivity

Impulse: A force applied to a body changes the momentum of the body, e.g, Kick a ball which was stationary and it moves, it gains momentum during the time your foot is in contact with the ball.

Momentum: An object's mass multiplied by its velocity, e.g, an object moving very fast has more momentum the same object moving slowly.

Equally, consider a heavier object that is moving at the same velocity as a lighter object. The heavier object has more momentum than the lighter object.

Reply 2

scherzi

Momentum is the impetus of a moving object, the quantity of motion. Intuitively you can think of it as a measure of how hard it is to stop an object - clearly this depends on its mass and velocity

From Wikipedia:

Impulse is:

The gun powder accelerating the bullet in a rifle,

The bow string accelerating the arrow,

The rocket engines accelerating the shuttle,

The fist accelerating the punching bag.

In general impulse is the force applied to a given object with a given mass for a given period of time. This will decide the amount of acceleration, final velocity and the kinetic energy stored in that object. If you know momentum and the mass of the object you do not need acceleration to calculate final velocity. Momentum is conserved. If an object slows down a certain amount of energy is transferred from the object to the environment. This transfer could be in the form of acceleration or deceleration of another object or heat due to friction or collision.