I’ve always struggled to conceptualize the difference between the two. I understand their equations are different and KE being a scalar and Momentum is a vector, but to me they seem to describe the same thing … a mass moving with some velocity.
How are they different and why are they not interchangeable. Whats the best way to conceptualize their differences
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The big difference is that kinetic energy can be converted to other forms of energy, but momentum will always be momentum.
When two billiard balls collide, you can approximate their final kinetic energy as about the same as the kinetic energy going in.
When two cars collide, crumple, and stick together afterward they’ve converted the most possible kinetic energy into other forms like heat.
Initial and final total momentum are the same in both cases, but the collisions are very different
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