Question

Define momentum in terms of football.

What is the law of conservation of momentum? How does it apply to football players who collide on the field?
Football player A has a mass of 110 kg, and he is running down the field with a velocity of 2 m/s. Football player B has a mass of 120 kg and is stationary. What is the momentum of each player?
If football player A collides with football player B, what is their total momentum before and after the collision?
Compare and contrast elastic and inelastic collisions. Which type of collision occurs in football?

Answer 1

The law of conservation of momentum basically means that energy is always conserved and never lost when a collision happens.

Using the formula p=mv ...
Player A would have a momentum of 220 N•S
Player B would have a momentum of 0 because he is not moving

After the collision, the total momentum is still 220 N•S because energy is never lost, but now player A is at 0 and player B took his momentum. Think about it this way, if you bumped into something that wasn’t moving, it would fall and you most likely wouldn’t keep moving.

Elastic collisions are where the objects bounce each other and in inelastic collisions they stick together. I don’t watch much football but if you do this should make sense.
If the players fall down together (they tackle each other and fall? I think) it should be inelastic.

Sorry if this was long and confusing but I really hope this helps! ☺️