Concept of Impulse?

Question

I have never been able to understand the concept of impulse correctly.Plz give me a brief understanding.Thx

Answer 1

Impulse is a rapid transfer of force. Think of it like this. Momentum is mass times velocity. The rapid transfer of memontum is called impulse. Mathematically, Momentum=M*V. So it's (M*V)/t, so we must remember that
V/t=A, or Velocity devided by time is Acceleration. That means that

Impulse=(Mass x Velocity)/ Devided by Time

But F=MA (Force is mass times acceleration)

if you examine both equations, it is the same thing. Force=Impulse.

F=M*A or F=M* (V/t)

Think of it like this: a bullet has very little mass, but is traveling at about the speed of sound, so it's mass is very small, but it's velocity is very high. Thus, it's momentum is very high. So, if a bullet hits a solid object, like your shoulder, it imparts massive force, because it comes to a stop, rapid deceleraation from high velocity to zero velocity, in a very short amount of time.
Thus, a bullet is imparting a rapid impulse, or a high degree of force upon impact.

Another example is a large Semi-truck tractor trailor. It has much mass, several tons. But it's speed is very small, only let's say 10 miles/hour. However, it comes to a sudden stop, and hits a brick wall, it impacts massive impulse, because in this example, Mass is very large, velocity is small, but it's the multiplication of these two numbers and having that velocity go to zero almost instantly that would cause mass force to be applied.

So impulse is the rapid loss of momentum to somethihng that doesn't want to "give" and velocity drops in the M*V equation in rapidly, with a small "T".

Hope I helped

Answer 2

Start with position. Everything is somewhere.

Next, Velocity. Velocity is a change in position measured over time

Then, Acceleration. Acceleration is a change in velocity over time.

Then, Impulse. Impulse is a change in acceleration over time.

You can keep deriving higher orders of motion, but impulse pretty much covers you into graduate-level studies.

Answer 3

It's just the idea of imparting energy to some object, but doing so very quickly.

If you pushed your hand against a board you'd be imparting energy to it, but very slowly, relatively speaking.

If you threw a baseball at that same board you'd impart energy to it also, but the energy would be imparted much faster.

If you shot the board with a bullet you'd again be imparting energy, but faster still.

With each case you'd see an energy curve (on a plot) that would be taller and narrower than the previous one.

It all has to do with the amount of time over which energy is transferred.

Hope this helps you.


:)

Answer 4

The concept of impulse is when you do something without thinking about the consequences before you do it.