• Force is defined as the?rate of change of momentum?on a body

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Force is equal to the rate of change in momentum

• The change in momentum is defined as the final momentum minus the initial momentum:

p_final???p_initial

• Force and momentum are?vectors?so they can be either positive or negative values

Direction of Forces

• The force that is equal to the rate of change of momentum is still the?resultant force
• A force on an object will be negative if it is directed in the opposite motion to its initial velocity. This means that the force is?produced by?the object it has collided with

F_car?= –F_wall

• The diagram shows a car colliding with a wall
• It is the?wall that produces?a force of -300N on the car
• Due to Newton’s Third Law (see “Newton’s Laws of Motion”), the car also produces a force of 300N back onto the wall

Maths tip

• ‘Rate of change’ describes how one variable changes with respect to another. In maths, how fast something changes with?time?is represented as dividing by?Δt?(e.g. acceleration is the rate of change in velocity)
• More specifically,?Δt?is used for finite and quantifiable changes such as the difference in time between two events