Impulse

and
Momentum
Prepared by: Norhayati Ahmad
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Politeknik Ibrahim Sultan

OBJECTIVES
Understand concepts kinetics of particles: impulse and
momentum
o
o
o

Explain concepts of impulse and momentum

Describe impulsive motion
Solve problems regarding impulse and momentum

Applications
How does a karate expert chop through cement blocks with a bare hand?
Why does a fall onto a wooden floor hurt less than onto a cement floor?
Why do people in larger vehicles usually end up with fewer injuries in
accidents?
Its easy to come up with answers like
The karate guy is strong!
Wood is softer!
Bigger is better!
but have you ever stopped to consider the why?
Thats when physics comes walking in, waving explanations in everyones
face.

Momentum
Momentum is a vector quantity
Momentum can be defined as "mass in motion." All objects
have mass; so if an object is moving, then it has momentum
Momentum depends upon the variables mass and velocity
Momentum = mass * velocity
p=m*v
where m = mass and v=velocity

Impulse
The simple definition for impulse is that it is a change in
momentum.
If an objects velocity changes, there is a change in
momentum, so there must be an impulse
We assume that you are not going to change the mass of
an object.

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sample
A box of tic tacs (15g) is sliding along the table at 5.0m/s.
I try to stop it, but only slow it down to 1.6 m/s.
Determine the impulse I impart to the box.

The negative sign just identifies that my

impulse was in the negative direction.
Momentum was taken away from the
object.

Impulsive motion
2nd Law of motion
Force is proportional to the
rate
of change in the momentum

We know that
So that

sample
A 75kg man is involved in a car accident. He was initially
traveling at 65km/h when he hit a large truck.
If he had no airbag in his car and he came to rest against
the steering wheel in 0.05s, determine how much force
was exerted on his body.

Sample 1
A particle of 50kg mass is moving on an inclined rough
surface for which the coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.4
with an initial velocity 2 m/s. If the particle is acted upon by
a force given by F=470N, determine the velocity of the
particle after 2 seconds.

Summary
the impulse experienced by an object is the force*time
the momentum change of an object is the mass*velocity
change
the impulse equals the momentum change