All moving objects have momentum. It is their tendency to keep moving unless a force acts upon them. Momentum is calculated by multiplying the mass of an object by its velocity. The greater its mass, the greater its momentum. That means that a train travelling at 25km/h (15mph) along a straight track has a greater momentum than a bird flying at the same speed above it. A much greater force will be needed to stop the train than to stop the bird.
Momentum is the quantity of motion of a moving body. In a basic sense, the more momentum a moving object has, the harder it is to stop. This is why you see the term used metaphorically like in the example of the sports team. It means the team is on a roll (generally, a winning streak) and is becoming a stronger team for it. The other teams will have a harder time stopping the team gaining momentum.
We know that momentum is the quantity of motion of a moving body, but what, exactly, does that mean? Let’s think about a baseball being thrown in a straight line through the air in order to try and understand this. When you catch a baseball, you feel the momentum of the ball being imparted to you. The ball will probably push your hand back towards you when you catch it. The more momentum the ball has, the more it will push back your hand as it transfers its momentum to you.
Imagine two baseballs are being thrown at you. One is traveling at 50 mph and the other at 150 mph. Even if you somehow catch that 150 mph ball, it might knock you off your feet. It will take more effort on your part to stop the 150 mph ball than the 50 mph one. So it stands to reason that velocity is a very important aspect of momentum. However, that’s not all there is to momentum.
Now imagine two balls being thrown at you at 50 mph. One is a baseball and the other is a bowling ball. You probably aren’t going to want to try to stop the bowling ball. It’s going to keep traveling even after it hits you. Both balls are traveling at the same velocity, so what makes the bowling ball so much harder to stop? It’s because it is heavier. It has more mass. So the other important aspect of momentum is mass.
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