The Principle of Conservation of Momentum
- The principle of conservation of momentum is:
- The total momentum of a system remains constant provided no external force acts on it
- For example if two objects collide:
the total momentum before the collision = the total momentum after the collision
- Remember momentum is a vector quantity. This allows oppositely-directed vectors to cancel out so the momentum of the system as a whole is zero
- Momentum is always conserved over time
External and Internal Forces
- External forces are forces that act on a structure from outside e.g. friction and weight
- Internal forces are forces exchanged by the particles in the system e.g. tension in a string
- Which forces are internal or external will depend on the system itself, as shown in the diagram below:
Internal and external forces on a mass on a spring
- You may also come across a system with no external forces being described as a ‘closed’ or ‘isolated’ system
- These all still refer to a system that is not affected by external forces
- For example, a swimmer diving from a boat:
- The diver will move forward, and, to conserve momentum, the boat will move backwards
- This is because the momentum beforehand was zero and no external forces are present to affect the motion of the diver or the boat