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Momentum

Conceptual resources cultivated:

  • Momentum is conserved and/or transferred.
  • Momentum is directional.
  • The kind of collision (e.g., elastic or inelastic) matters.
  • Forces cause objects to speed up or slow down.

Learning goals:

Students will be able to:

  • generate rules (about changes in momentum) based on experimental observations, and apply those rules to predict/explain the behavior (relative speed and direction) of (colliding) objects.
  • choose an experiment to test a rule (about changes in momentum). They may generate the experiment themselves or select it from an instructor-provided list.
  • explain and predict relative speed and direction of colliding objects in terms of conservation of momentum.
  • Students will be able to explain changes in momentum in terms of forces and Newton’s second and third laws: e.g., for specific collisions, “forces transfer momentum” or “the change in momentum is equal to the impulse.”

Classroom videos and training lessons using these materials (coming soon)

Preview Momentum Materials

  • Worksheet - Force and Momentum in Collisions - Word
  • Worksheet - Force and Momentum in Collisions - 221020.pdfWorksheet - Force and Momentum in Collisions - PDF
  • Supplement - Force and Momentum in Collisions - Word
  • Supplement - Force and Momentum in Collisions - 221024.pdfSupplement - Force and Momentum in Collisions - PDF
  • ACORN Physics Tutorial Instructor Guide - Force and momentum in collisions 221129.pdfInstructor Guide - Force and Momentum in Collisions

Research related to ACORN Physics Tutorials on Momentum

  • B. Hansen, L. C. Bauman, M. Valentin, Y. A. Abraham, and A. D. Robertson, “Student resources for understanding linear momentum,” in 2021 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings, edited by M. B. Bennett, B. W. Frank, and R. E. Vieyra, p. 166-171, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2021.pr.Hansen (2021).