paragchitnis said:I think, Law of conservation of momentum is only applied when
1. There is no external force acting on the bodies
2. The bodies in the system are rigid
The clay ball is not rigid and stick to wall. Here total energy of the system is conserved but the total momentum is not.
paragchitnis said:Here we are considering a system of two bodies i.e. a wall and the clay ball. If we consider the motion of the earth, the system will be changed. Momentum will be conserved only if there is no external force acting on the system. The force may be small or large, tangentially or normally, if it is acting on the system the momentum will not conserved.
In the proof of the Law of conservation of momentum we take (For the system of two bodies)
Action force = -(Reaction force)
If any third external force acts on the system, the magnitude and the direction of the action as well as reaction force changes (Depending on the magnitude and direction of external force)
The change in force tends to change in velocity and momentum of the bodies. This force does not change the initial momentum of the system but changes final momentum. Thus the momentum is not conserved.
Momentum conservation is a fundamental principle in physics that states that the total momentum of a closed system remains constant over time. This means that in the absence of external forces, the total momentum before an event must equal the total momentum after the event.
Momentum is conserved according to Newton's third law of motion, which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This means that when two objects interact, they exert equal and opposite forces on each other, resulting in a change in momentum that is equal and opposite for each object.
A common example of momentum conservation is a collision between two objects. When two objects collide, their momentums change, but the total momentum before the collision must be equal to the total momentum after the collision, as long as no external forces are acting on the system.
Momentum conservation is important because it is a fundamental law of nature that helps us understand and predict the motion of objects. It also plays a crucial role in fields such as mechanics, astrophysics, and particle physics.
In a closed system, momentum cannot be lost or gained, it can only be transferred between objects. This is because the total momentum of the system must remain constant. However, in an open system where external forces are present, momentum can be lost or gained as a result of these external forces.