Violation of Conservation of Momentum Law in Collisions?

[sk8rlindz]

I have a question about the conservation of momentum. if a moving golf ball hits a bowling ball that's not moving, wouldn't the momentum be bigger than the momentum of the golf ball before the collision? THe velocity of the bowling ball would be very small... doesn't this violate the momentum law?

 

[revesz]

The momentum of an object is equal to its mass, multiplied by its velocity. The bowling ball will obviously be much heavier than the golf ball, so it will not have as great of a speed, yet because of its mass, would still have about the same momentum. A golf ball would probably bounce back when it hits the bowling ball, so it would retain some of the initial momentum and the bowling ball would not move very much.

wouldn't the momentum be bigger than the momentum of the golf ball before the collision?

What are you trying to say here? The momentum would be about the same, because as you said, the bowling ball would have less speed, but it also has more mass so it's equal.

 

[sk8rlindz]

I was just wondering if the momentum would be bigger for the golf ball before the collision than after.. if it was wouldn't that prove the conservation law false?