We are studying energy my questions
What happens to the momentum of a car when it comes to a stop?
The momentum is transfered to the Earth.
Momentum is always conserved.
What happens to the momentum of a car when it comes to a stop?
When a car comes to a stop, the momentum of the car changes. To understand what happens to the momentum, we need to understand the concept of momentum. Momentum is the product of an object's mass and its velocity. It is a measure of how difficult it is to stop or change the motion of an object.
In this case, the car is initially moving with a certain velocity and has a certain mass, so it possesses momentum. When the car comes to a stop, its velocity becomes zero. As a result, the car's momentum also becomes zero. This means that the car's momentum has changed from its initial non-zero value to zero.
So, when a car comes to a stop, its momentum decreases from its initial value to zero. This change in momentum is caused by external forces acting on the car, such as friction between the car's tires and the road surface or the action of the car's brakes. These forces gradually slow down the car and eventually bring it to a stop.
It's important to note that even though the car's momentum changes, the total momentum of the system remains conserved. This is due to the principle of conservation of momentum, which states that the total momentum of an isolated system remains constant if no external forces act on it. In this case, the Earth provides the external force necessary to bring the car to a stop, so the total momentum of the car-Earth system is conserved.