Why is “momentum mass into velocity”?
When scientists wanted to describe motion, they realized that just saying “fast” (velocity) wasn’t enough. A small pebble moving at 10 m/s doesn’t have the same impact as a truck moving at 10 m/s. At the same time, just knowing “heavy” (mass) wasn’t enough either—a huge boulder sitting still doesn’t cause any effect, while a smaller tennis ball moving quickly can hit and sting.
What matters is both together: the amount of matter (mass) and the speed plus direction of motion (velocity). That’s why momentum is defined as mass × velocity—it captures the full story of motion.
what is momentum?
Momentum is a measure of how much motion an object has.
It depends on two things:
Mass – how much matter the object has.
Velocity – how fast it’s moving and in which direction.
The more mass or the faster something moves, the more momentum it has.
These are the new things I learned about momentum today, this is one of my favourite research of all times, and this topic was very integuing for me, and I have felt an emotional connection to my learning today.