Momentum is a term which is used quite commonly in every day language, to describe the motion of objects. In physics, however, momentum has a much more precise meaning. It is used to help describe the effect of forces in collisions, or during the change in motion of a body, as it is a fundamental property characterising the motion of any object.

Momentum is defined quite simply as the product of mass and velocity of a moving object. Because momentum is a vector quantity, we often need to indicate direction when solving problems using momentum.

We can simply use the formula:

That's it. Nice and simple. So simple in fact, we won't test you on what you have learnt just yet. All you need to do is remember the above formula, which can then be applied quite easily to various situations. Commit that to memory, and once you think you are ready, click on the arrow below to learn about impulse, and look at some examples of calculating momentum.