What does the law of the conservation of momentum state?

Responses

When two objects collide, the system's momentum changes.

When two objects collide, the system's momentum changes.

When two objects collide, the system's momentum remains the same.

When two objects collide, the system's momentum remains the same.

When two objects collide, they will each keep their initial momenta.

When two objects collide, they will each keep their initial momenta.

When two objects collide, they will keep their initial speeds.

1 answer

The law of conservation of momentum states that when two objects collide in a closed system (with no external forces acting on them), the total momentum of the system before the collision is equal to the total momentum of the system after the collision. So the correct response would be:

When two objects collide, the system's momentum remains the same.

This means that the total momentum is conserved. The options regarding individual momenta or speeds being retained are incorrect in this context, as individual momenta and speeds can change during the collision, but the overall momentum of the system remains constant.