Impulse. Force and time

Do you want to better understand what mechanical momentum is, how it is calculated and why it is so important?

The online simulations of mechanical impulse on this page will help you to better understand this important concept of physics, how it is calculated and how it is related to other quantities.

Mechanical momentum is a physical quantity that is defined as the product of the force acting on an object and the time during which the force acts. Mathematically, mechanical momentum is expressed as J = F ∆t, where J is the momentum, F is the force and ∆t is the time during which the force acts.

The mechanical impulse is a vector quantity, which means that it has a direction and a quantity. The direction of the mechanical impulse is the same as the direction of the force acting on the object. It has units of Newton-second (N-s) in the International System of Units (SI). It can also be expressed in units of kilogram-meter per second (kg-m/s) in the System of Technical Units (SUT).

The law of conservation of mechanical momentum states that, in an isolated system, the total amount of mechanical momentum before and after a collision is the same. This means that if two objects collide, the sum of their mechanical impulses before the collision is equal to the sum of their mechanical impulses after the collision.

Mechanical impulse is a very important quantity in physics, since it is related to many other physical quantities, such as velocity, amount of motion and kinetic energy.

Below are several simulations and other educational resources, which can also serve as very illustrative examples. In addition, a selection of books and courses is included to help you broaden your knowledge of this subject.

Impact
Velocity
Impulse

Impact force and collision time

To inject a given quantity of motion (momentum) into an object by impact, the force required is inversely proportional to the time of application.

Velocity maximization

In this simulation, the force applied by the machine is constant. To maximize the velocity, the contact time must be increased by dragging the ball to the left. What does the area of the graph below represent?