Why is "p" used as a symbol for momentum?

Question

This is our physics assignment so anybody could help me? thanks!

Answer 1

p is used because the word "impetus" formally in place of "momentum" comes from the latin, "petere," to go towards or rush upon...so therefore we get "p"
another way to look at it is q is used for the reaction and p is the mirror image of q so therefore since "to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction," we choose p to go with q

Answer 2

Momentum Symbol

Answer 3

Symbol For Momentum

Answer 4

Before Newton's time, it was thought that an object only moved while a force was continuously applied. Newton invented the concept of "momentum" meaning the tendency of a moving object to continue moving in the absence of any applied force. At the time Newton published the Principia, impetus was the quality of an object that was moving independent of an observed force. Impetus comes from the Latin in- + petere to go to, seek -- from Greek petesthai to fly, piptein to fall, pteron wing. Also, push and pull derive from the Latin pellere.

However, the equation p=mv wasn't given first by Newton, but was developed afterwards. Many scientist/mathematicians developed what we now call "Newtonian Mechanics," and it's easy to imagine some sticking with the old impetus while others used the new momentum. P was a convenient symbol -- m would be confused with mass, i is too often used to indicate an instance of an object. (Mi might be confused with mi, which usually means the mass of the ith object.)

Answer 5

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Impulse is the term for momentum imparted by one object to another by, for example, a collision. Etymologyically speaking, "impulse" means "imparted pulse". This suggests that pulse is an obsolete term for momentum.

Answer 6

It might come from Hamiltonian mechanics, where generalized coordinates are often designated q, and p. In the formalism, if q models position, then p models momentum.

Hamilton also might have been the first person to introduce i,j,k as names for unit vectors (Although he actually used those letters for unit quaternions, which are related to vectors)

Answer 7

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RE:
Why is "p" used as a symbol for momentum?
This is our physics assignment so anybody could help me? thanks!

Answer 8

Because it is - just accept it . Why is omega used for angular velocity?

By the way, O means origin, and can easily be mistaken for zero.

Answer 9

'cos m is used for mass
n for number
o is unusable
then we get to p

Answer 10

because m was taken and it was the only good letter left