Difference Between Force And Momentum

The difference between force and momentum is that force is an external action upon a body while momentum is the amount of linear motion within a body.

What is Force?

Force is a term used to describe the amount of pressure applied to a surface. When we apply force to something, we push it away from us. According to the second law of motion, force is defined as the product of mass and acceleration.

F=ma

If we have a small object, then applying a lot of force to it will cause it to move a lot faster than if we were to apply less force. Force is measured in Newton’s (N). A force of 1 N would be equal to the weight of a small object. When we apply force to something, we are applying a certain amount of pressure to the surface.

In physics, pressure is defined as the pushing together of two surfaces. If you were to push a book off a table, you have applied pressure. You may think that if you push a book off a desk, the desk would collapse under the weight, but that’s not true.

Instead, the desk pushes back on you and applies pressure on you. That’s what happens when you walk on a sidewalk. The ground pushes back on you and you feel the pressure.

What is Momentum?

Momentum is a term that is often used to describe how fast something moves. Momentum is the product of mass and velocity. It is a vector quantity.

P=mv

The magnitude of the momentum (P) is related to the mass of the body (m), and the direction of the momentum (v) is related to the velocity of the body (v). Momentum conservation law for an isolated system states that the change in momentum equals the net external forces acting on the system. This means that the rate of change of momentum in the body equals the net external forces acting on the body.

When the motion of a body is circular motion then its momentum is said to be angular momentum.

Difference between force and momentum

There is some difference between force and momentum.

Force	Momentum
Force is the product of mass and acceleration.	Momentum is the product of mass and velocity.
Mathematically F=ma	Mathematically P=mv
The direction of force is dependent upon the direction of the acceleration.	The direction of momentum can be determined by the direction of the velocity.
The force on a stationary object may not be zero.	The momentum of a stationary object is zero.
Force can be a result of touching objects and not having physical contact.	An unbalanced force acting on a body is the cause of momentum.

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