ScienceVerseLearning path: Momentum
The concepts to learn before Momentum, in order. Each step links to its page and, where one exists, its quiz.
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Your path
- MotionDirect prerequisite
The change in an object's position over time relative to a reference frame. Kinematics describes motion using position, velocity (the rate of change of position) and acceleration (the rate of change of velocity), without yet asking what causes it.
- ForcesDirect prerequisite
A push or pull interaction between two objects, capable of changing an object's velocity. Newton's three laws of motion describe how forces and motion relate: a body keeps its state of motion unless acted on by a net force (first law), net force equals mass times acceleration, F = ma (second law), and forces between two bodies are equal and opposite (third law).
- MomentumYour goal
The product of an object's mass and velocity, a vector quantity describing the 'quantity of motion' it carries. In a closed system with no external forces, total momentum before and after an interaction such as a collision is conserved, even when kinetic energy is not (as in an inelastic collision).