General Physics
Name:
Momentum Investigation
Unit 4
Lesson 2
Date:
Period:
1. In the following situations, two PASCO carts roll towards each other, collide,
and stick to each other.
a. For each experiment in the table, circle either T or F if the statement is
true or false:
i. The cart with the bigger velocity wins
ii. The cart with the bigger mass wins
iii. The cart with the bigger m*v wins.
Before
After
b. Are any of the statements true for each case?
c. Which one?
Bigger Bigger
Velocity Mass
Wins
Wins
Bigger
m*v wins
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
T
F
2. Use your finding to predict which direction the cars will roll for each case
below:
Definition Momentum. The momentum of an object describes how difficult it is to
stop. Momentum is abbreviated with a p. Its formula is:
p = m´ v
Momentum is positive if the object is moving to the right and negative if the object is
moving to the left. The units of momentum are kg m/s.
Practice:
3. Calculate the momentum of an 80 kg object moving at 3 m/s.
4. Calculate the momentum of a 100 kg object moving at -4 m/s.
5. What is the momentum of an object that is not moving?
6. a) Which has more momentum, a 1 kg basketball moving at 40 m/s or a
1,000,000 kg aircraft carrier moving at 1 m/s?
b) Why?
General Physics
Unit 4
Lesson 2
Solve for momentum:
7. If the truck moving at 35 m/s has a mass of 2,000 kilograms, what is its
momentum? Express your answer in kg·m/sec.
8. If the car moving at 35 m/s has a mass of 1,000 kilograms, what is its
momentum?
9. A beach ball is rolling in a straight line toward you at a speed of 0.5m/sec. Its
mass is 0.5 kg. What is the momentum of the beach ball?
10. A 4,000-kilogram truck travels in a straight line at 10.0m/sec. What is its
momentum?
11. A 0.14-kilogram baseball is thrown in a straight line at a velocity of 30m/sec.
What is the momentum of the baseball?
12. A 1-kilogram turtle crawls in a straight line at a speed of 0.01m/sec. What is the
turtle’s momentum?
13. A 0.5 kg softball is moving at 20 m/s. Calculate the momentum of the softball.
14. An 80 kg track runner is moving at 8 m/s. Calculate her momentum.
15. A 30 kg passenger is a car is moving at 15 m/s. Calculate his momentum.
16. How much momentum does a 6 kg bowling ball moving at 0 m/s have?
17. How much momentum does a 4 kg head moving at 5 m/s have?
18. What is the momentum of a 1,000,000 kg rocket moving at 3 m/s?
19. What is the momentum of a 150 kg cart moving at 4 m/s?