Question

Distinguish between force and momentum

Answer 1

Hint: Force is defined as an external push or pull. We know that when unbalanced forces act on a body, it causes the body to move and thus displacement occurs. On the other hand momentum is defined as a quantity of a body in motion that is obtained by multiplying mass and velocity.

Complete Step-By-Step Solution:
Force is obtained by multiplying mass and velocity on the other hand momentum is obtained by multiplying mass and velocity. Thus we can say force changes as acceleration of the body changes and momentum of the body changes with change in velocity of the body. In other words we can say that the direction of force is given by the direction of its acceleration and the direction of momentum is given by the direction of velocity.
We know that force can be non-zero on a stationary body, however, in case of a stationary body, since velocity is zero, momentum is also zero.
We know that force and momentum are related to each other from Newton’s second law of motion. Thus, momentum is a result of unbalanced forces acting on a body whereas force arises due to two touching bodies or when applied externally.

Note:
We know that momentum is always conserved, that means the total momentum of a system always remains constant, however generally force is not conserved. When we say a force is conservative we imply that the work done by a force is independent of the path taken by it.