Conservation of Momentum Calculator

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Elastic: kinetic energy is conserved. Perfectly inelastic: objects merge and move as one. Explosion: a stationary system separates into two pieces.
Mass of the first object before the collision.
kg
Velocity of object 1 before the collision. Use negative values for motion to the left.
m/s
Mass of the second object before the collision. Can be at rest (u₂ = 0).
kg
Velocity of object 2 before the collision. Set to 0 if it is at rest.
m/s
Only used when collision type is set to "Partially inelastic" to calculate the unknown final velocity.
m/s
Final velocity of object 1 (v₁)Perfectly inelastic
0.3333m/s

Velocity of object 1 after the collision

Total momentum before5kg·m/s
Total momentum after5kg·m/s
Final velocity of object 2 (v₂)4.3333m/s
Kinetic energy before9.5J
Kinetic energy after9.5J
Kinetic energy lost0J
Coefficient of restitution (e)-1
Momentum before5
Momentum after5
KE before (J)9.5
KE after (J)9.5

Object 1 leaves at 0.333 m/s, object 2 at 4.333 m/s.

  • Momentum is conserved: total momentum before equals total momentum after, as required by Newton's third law.
  • In a perfectly elastic collision, kinetic energy is also conserved (9.500 J before, 9.500 J after).
  • The coefficient of restitution is -1.000 (1.0 = perfectly elastic, 0.0 = perfectly inelastic).

Next stepFor 2-D collisions, decompose velocities into x and y components and apply momentum conservation separately in each direction.

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