ScienceVerseEnergy and momentum
Energy and momentum both build on motion and forces, so this route covers those first. The projectile-motion simulation sits between them so you can change a launch and watch the motion respond.
- Step 1Concept
Motion
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.
- Step 2Concept
Forces
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).
- Step 3Simulation
Projectile Motion
Explore ground-to-ground projectile motion interactively — adjust launch speed, launch angle and surface gravity and see the real trajectory, range, max height and time of flight recompute live.
- Step 4Concept
Energy
The capacity to do work, taking forms such as kinetic energy (associated with motion) and potential energy (associated with position or configuration, such as height in a gravitational field). The total energy of an isolated system is conserved: energy changes form but is never created or destroyed.
- Step 5Concept
Momentum
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).