Conservation of momentum, would this be correct?

Marvella Benward: Well, the conservation of momentum is a consequence of Newton's third law, which is something like what you have described. However, if you want a DEFINITION of the conservation of momentum, you need to say something like: "in any interaction in the absence of a net external force, the total momentum of the particles before the interaction is equal to the total momentum of the particles after the interaction".

Gregg Hagge: Sorry Rory, what you just defined was a version of Newton's Third Law of Motion, the balanced forces one, which is epitomized by "for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.".Momentum, by definition you should learn, is mass times its velocity, P = MV in math talk. Force, on the other hand, is F = MA, where A = dV/dT acceleration.The conservation of momentum law says the sum of momenta before an interacting event (like a collision) equals the sum of momenta after the event. In math talk, that's SUM(p) = SUM(p').E! XAMPLE: A truck M at v speed smooshes a VW m head on at V speed and they stick. What's the speed of the two stuck together?SUM(p) = Mv + mV = (M + m)u = SUM(p'); so u = (Mv + mV)/(M + m) ANS....Show more