Momentum

The unit was not difficult. We began simply learning about momentum. Because momentum equals mass times velocity, it is possible to have a small object with larger velocity than a larger object to have a larger momentum. After that, we studied change in momentum. This is also known as "impulse".

The two most important questions in this unit were "how do airbags protect passengers in a crash?" and "how can a small object have a larger momentum than a large object?" The first is because the change in time is larger, so the the force is smaller to have the same impulse. The second is because P=mv, so a small mass and large velocity can be a larger p than a small velocity and large mass.