Now what exactly does momentum mean

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Momentum is defined as the product of mass and velocity, but its physical significance extends beyond this formula. It represents a conserved quantity in the absence of external forces, indicating that momentum is related to the ability of an object to maintain its state of motion or influence the motion of other bodies during collisions. The discussion highlights that while momentum can be seen as "quantity of motion," this label may not fully capture its physical intuition. Additionally, the conservation of momentum is linked to the translational symmetry of space, suggesting deeper implications about the universe's structure. Ultimately, the understanding of momentum intertwines with concepts of inertia and mass, which remain complex and not fully understood in physics.
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bomba923 said:
Now what exactly does momentum mean??
We think of force as a push or pull...
We acceleration as change in motion (speeding up/down, turning..etc-etc...)
We think speed as amt. distance/time...

But momentum??What is it---i need a definition OTHER than mass*velocity...
I need a definition other than a change in impulse (force*change in time)

What does momentum PHYSICALLY (push/pull, speed up/down) represent?

The closest thing in my head is "inertia with respect to velocity"--

But yeah...what does momentum PHYSICALLY represent? The product of mass and velocity...what does it MEAN? ("physically-speaking")?
I'll take a stab at it, FWIW.

Momentum may be thought of as a measure of the amount of external pushing or pulling a system has experienced in its past. Since p = \int Fdt a system accumulates all the impulses and stores them. We know it stores these impulses because in the absence of forces (ie. F=0), dp/dt = F = 0, so p does not change.

AM
 

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