Everything is physics and physical components, whether you walk on the road, slide on a marble, or push a sofa. Indeed force and momentum are the essential concepts on which half of the physics laws lean.
Key Takeaways
- Force is a push or pulls on an object due to its interaction with another object, while momentum is the product of an objectโs mass and velocity.
- Force can change the direction or speed of an object, while momentum measures the amount of motion an object has.
- The unit of force is Newton (N), while the unit of momentum is kilogram-meter per second (kg m/s).
Force vs. Momentum
The difference between force and momentum is that force is the multiplication of the bodyโs mass and acceleration applied to the body. In contrast, Momentum is a multiplication of the bodyโs mass and velocity. For any stationary object, the force can exist while the momentum of that same stationary object is zero.
The force means the external action of pushing or pulling something that changes the momentum of a body. The force formula is MA, where M is the bodyโs mass, and A is the acceleration applied.
On the other hand, Momentum is the quantitative analysis of motion in the bodyโmomentum changes with constant acceleration. Also, momentum increases with time for an applied force.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Force | Momentum |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Force is the external action on the body that either shifts the body or not. | Momentum is the amount of motion in a moving body that instigates the movement. |
| Direction | The direction depends upon acceleration. | The direction of momentum depends on velocity. |
| Time | The increase in time eventually decreases the force amount if momentum is constant. | The increase in time increases the momentum. |
| Contact with objects | It happens when the body comes in contact or is not in touch. | Itโs a result of an unbalanced force acting on a body. |
| Formula | The formula of force is force = mass*acceleration. | The formula of momentum is momentum = mass*velocity. |
What is Force?
Force is an external action that changes the motion of the object. Like you push a sofa or push a car from behind, these types of forces that act on a body are a force.
Thus, Newtonโs law is one of the essential concepts in physics. It makes up more than half of physics. According to Newton, this law says that the net force applied to the object equals the rate at which its momentum changes with time.
Itโs to be pushed and pulled so that it overrules the bodyโs mass to break the object state, which is on rest. Concepts like thrust, which accelerates the velocity, and drag, which decreases torque, pressure, mechanical stress, deformation, flow in fluids, equilibrium, gravitational force, and rolling balls on inclined declined or on a plane, the surface is supported by Newtonโs law.
Force is a vector quantity. It means it will have a magnitude and direction both. Since acceleration is a vector quantity and mass is constant, the force is a vector quantity.
What is Momentum?
According to Newtonian mechanics, momentum, or describing linear momentum, translational momentum, or simply momentum, is the multiplication of mass with velocity.
The formula of momentum is Momentum = mass * velocity. Newtonโs 2nd law states that the bodyโs momentum is equal to the force applied to it. It depends upon the frame of reference.
Suppose you are playing pool. When you hit the cue ball to destroy the formation of those stripes and solids, it happens when the cue ball transfers its energy to those colored ballsโthe momentum changes from zero to some value.
Formulas like Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics allow one to choose a coordinate system with symmetries and constraints. Here the general Momentum is a conserved quantity.
Main Differences Between Force and Momentum
- Force can result from when objects come in contact and even without coming in touch, while Momentum is always an unbalanced force acting.
- The formula for force is force= mass* acceleration, while the formula for momentum is momentum= mass*velocity.
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=KemaBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=force&ots=EiyKMBPuS3&sig=VBFZhw0ZxIf_Y82FPO0JO4OpDyc
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1996.tb05222.x
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
