can you give an example of an object with a small mass that has a large momentum?

Answer 1

A speeding bullet.

Answer 2

There are two types of description for a moving mass. One is linear momentum and the other is rotational momentum .Both motion have an equivalent energy.If the smallest particle has the maximum energy it will also have maximum momentum.Energy of motion is always the product of the moving mass times the velocity squared.So Momentum is defined by the motional energy of the mass divided by its velocity.
Object are usually made up of a chemical mass structure.
So the smallest mass of an object in order to have a large momentum would have to travel close to the velocity of light. When a mass structure moving at the velocity of light whould have a maximal momentum and when that happens the atomic structure would break apart. Since This would cause all massse in the Univerese to break into its basic component it would destroy the Universe. So a protection system was designed for all object containing mass that are very large would only be able to move a low velocity . And small masses would travel much faster and the fasters they move the more of their mass structural energy is lost.
In this manner the Universe maintains an equilibrium. and mass structures are basically stable. In the sense they maintain their chemical mass structures.
In order for the energy phenomenato take place mass has to be made to move. So without mass motion there is no energy.All mass structure contain micromasses moving at high velocity.
So the energy content of a mass would be equal to its structural energy.So if you divide the strucural energy of a mass by the velocity of its internal masses you would have mass time velocity which is momentum.
Note momentum is always defined in term of a moving mass.
So if a mass is at rest and has no energy then its momentum would be zero, And that is what a particle mass of light would have if it was not in motion.

Answer 3

You have to define "small mass" first. Because the Earth has a small mass relative to the sun. The sun has a small mass relative to the galaxy. The galaxy has a small mass relative to the universe.

Photons don't have large momentum, their momentum is proportional to frequency, it has nothing to do with mass.
In fact the momentum is p=hf, where h is the Planck constant. So the momentum is small.

Answer 4

A photon (light) has momentum. Photons create light pressure by exchange of momentum when they reflect or are absorbed by a surface. But photons have ZERO mass, so their momentum to mass ratio is infinite, which I suppose means photons have a large momentum compared to their (nonexistent) mass.

Leaving photons aside, any small mass from a electron to a locomotive has momentum proportional to its velocity. To get a large momentum, just make whatever it is move very fast. The record for this has got to be held by electron and positron linear accelerators that collide these two particles to study sub-atomic nuclear structure.

These small particles are accelerated to relativistic speeds approaching the speed of light, so their increased momentum (and energy) appears mainly as an increase in their relativistic mass. But they did start out with very small mass and ended up with very large momentum.

Answer 5

momentum = m * v

So any small mass with a high velocity would have a large momentum.

A bullet is a good example. Maybe a metor or asteriod?

Answer 6

If you meant small mass with large energy, then I would say the "space junk" meets this requirement. Some of them are as small as specs of sand, but they are travelling so fast, (fast enough to travel around the earth in few hours) that it can puncture most man-made objects that may be on its way.

Answer 7

Well I would think momentum is dependent on mass, so wouldn't small masses have proportionately smaller momentum?

Answer 8

Vaccum Cleaner

Answer 9

Bullet is an excellent but what about a neutron in a particle accelerator?