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Sir, would you please explain to me about the law of conservation of momentum.

 According to the law conservation of momentum: When two (or more bodies act upon one another, their total momentum and the remains constant (or conserved) provided no external forces are action. The law of conservation of momentum means that whenever one body gains momentum, then some other body must lose an equal amount of momentum. This law can also be stated as: Momentum is never created or destroyed. We will now take an example to prove the law of conservation of momentum. Suppose two bodies, a truck and a car, are moving in the same direction (towards) but with different speeds or velocities. Let the mass of the truck be m1 and its velocity be u1 so that its initial momentum is m1u1. Let the mass of the car be m2 and its velocity be u2 so that the initial momentum of the car is m2u2. Thus, the total momentum of the truck and the car before collision is m1u1 + m2u2.

Suppose the truck and the car collide for a short time. Due to collision, the velocities of the truck and the car will change. Let the velocity of the truck after the collision be v1, and the velocity of the car after the collision be v2.  So the momentum of the truck after the collision will be m1v1, and the momentum of the car after the collision will be m2v2. In this way, the total momentum of the truck and the car after the collision will be m1v+ m2v2.

Suppose that during collision, the truck exerts a force F1 on the car and, in turn, the car exerts a force F2 on the truck. We will now find out the values of the forces F1 and F2. This can be done as follows:

(i)       When the force F1 of the truck acts on the car for a time t, then the velocity of car changes from u2 to v2. So, 

But, force, mass x acceleration, so the force F1 exerted by the truck on the car is given by :

(ii) When the force F2 of the car reacts on the truck for a time t, then the velocity of the truck changes from u1 to v1. So, 

But, force = mass x acceleration, so the force F2 exerted by car on the truck is given by:

Now, the force F1 exerted by the truck is the ‘action’ and the force F2 exerted by the car is the ‘reaction’. But according to the third law of motion, the action and reaction are equal and opposite. That is,
F1 = -F2 
Now, putting the values of F1 and F2 from equations (1) and (2), we get:

Cancelling t from both sides, we get :
        m2 (v2 – u2) = -m1 (v1 – u1)
or   m2v2 – m2u2 = -m1v1 + m1u1
or    m2v2 + m1v1 = m2u2 + m1u1
or   m1u1 – m2u2 = m1v1 + m2v2
Now, m1u1 + m2u2 represents total momentum of the truck and car before collision whereas m1v1 + m2v2 represents the total momentum of the truck and car after collision. This means that:
Total momentum before collision = Total momentum after collision
It is obvious that the total momentum of the two bodies before and after the collision is the same. This means that the momentum of the two bodies remains constant (or conserved). And this result proves the law of conservation of momentum.

 



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