What happens to momentum when objects stick together?

If the two objects stick together after the collision and move with a common velocity vf, then the collision is said to be perfectly inelastic. In collisions between two isolated objects momentum is always conserved. Kinetic energy is only conserved in elastic collisions.

How is momentum conserved when a car hits a wall?

The momentum will mostly transfer into the air and wall as heat and sound. So, it is conserved, you just need to take the entire Earth and it’s atmosphere as well. you’re somewhat confused with conservation of energy. The engergy will end up as heat (mostly heating the car itself) and sound.

What happens to the momentum of an object?

At constant velocity the momentum of an object remains constant but if that object comes in contact with another object there is a change in momentum (acceleration or deceleration) that is related to the time of contact. This relationship is called impulse.

Does Wall have momentum?

The wall and everything it is attached to does move in order to conserve momentum and therefore it does pick up kinetic energy. Because of the difference in mass the energy may be vanishingly small but it is not zero and can only become zero if the wall etc had an infinite mass which it doesnt.

How is momentum lost?

That is, the momentum lost by object 1 is equal to the momentum gained by object 2. In most collisions between two objects, one object slows down and loses momentum while the other object speeds up and gains momentum. If object 1 loses 75 units of momentum, then object 2 gains 75 units of momentum.

What causes momentum changes?

In a collision, an object experiences a force for a specific amount of time that results in a change in momentum. The result of the force acting for the given amount of time is that the object’s mass either speeds up or slows down (or changes direction).