The momentum of an object can change

Question

true or false .

Answer 1

True, A force acting for a time on an object will change the momentum of the object.

Answer 2

Momentum is mass x velocity. So if either mass or velocity change, then momentum changes. So, yes, the momentum of an OBJECT can definitely change. The momentum of a golf ball changes when you hit it. The momentum of your body changes when you stand up and start walking. The momentum of a meteor changes as it burns up in the atmosphere, losing mass.

What's important to realize is that if you have two objects that interact (like two football players colliding), the TOTAL momentum between the two of them does NOT change. But the individual momentums of each player does change. In physics, this is called the Law of Conservation of Momentum and it's derived from Newton's third law. Also in physics, the two interacting objects (whether they are football players, billiard balls, etc.) are called a system. So the overall momentum of a system does not change, but the momentums of the things in the system can change. It's just that for any point in time within the system, all the momentums have to add up to the same value.