Mistake Master
Mistake Master · AP Physics C · Unit 4 · Topic 4.1 · Step-Through Animation
Momentum: The Product, With a Direction
You'll learnthat momentum is the product mass times velocity, and neither factor ranks it alone.
A slow, heavy cart out-momenta a quick, light one, because p = mv is a product — neither factor ranks it alone. Then the sign turns on: a system's momentum is the signed sum, equal-and-opposite momenta cancel to zero, and the same p can hide very different kinetic energies.
MOMENTUM LAB
Before you start
What you're looking at
An 8 kg cart rolling east at 2 m/s above a 2 kg cart moving east at 5 m/s on separate tracks.
The question
Both carts carry momentum, but which one carries more?
Watch for
The pink momentum arrows. Predict the faster cart, then watch the slow heavy one win.
What the symbols mean
Pink = momentum p = mv (kg·m/s); east is the positive direction; each cart shows mass and speed.
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