Physics momentum help! (please read below)?
momentum is conserved if the air track was tilted. Momentum is a vector quantity and in a given direction the momentum is conserved. Since external force creates momentum , the total momentum increases with the external force . Hence the momentum is conserved in the absence of any external force . In a closed system the internal forces do create momentum but there is a corresponding decrease also so that the net change in momentum is zero. ====================
Physics Problem Help Needed?
remember the statement of conservation of momentum...in the absence of outside forces, momentum is conserved in the case of an inclined plane, there is a force in the vertical direction...gravity so, if you could measure the mass and velocity of the objects an instant (meaning a really, really short time) before the collision, and measure those parameters an instant after the collision, momentum would be conserved...but if you wait a sec or two...they won't be, since the force of gravity will accelerate masses in the vertical direction hope this makes sense