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Re: Impulse



Why do you suggest that the time the hammer is in contact with the
bowling ball is vanishingly small. What is I used a rubber mallet, or a
balloon at the device delivering the force?

joe

On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, Justin
Parke wrote:

Justin asked:

>What about using the term impulse to describe a large but exceptionally
brief
>force? Is this a well defined concept?

>Justin Parke

Impulse is already a well-defined concept! Impulse is >the total change in
momentum caused by application of a force over some >time interval. It can
be found by integrating Fdt, but it's still the change >in momentum.

I think my question was misunderstood. I understand the concept of impulse as the time integral of a force. This definition remains true regardless of the time interval. In other cases "an impulse" means a force over a vanishingly small time interval (like a hammer striking a bowling ball). These uses of the term impulse are not identical. The first is well defined, the second does not seem as well defined to me, and even if it is, it doesn not mean exactly the same thing as the first.

Comments?

Justin


Joseph J. Bellina, Jr. 219-284-4662
Associate Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556