Momentum can be thought of as the ability of a moving body to continue moving along its present path.
Inertia is thought of as the ability of a body to maintain its state of motion.
So how is Momentum different from Inertia?

Momentum can be thought of as the ability of a moving body to continue moving along its present path.
Inertia is thought of as the ability of a body to maintain its state of motion.
So how is Momentum different from Inertia?

hi,
I am getting my answers from exam krackers audio osmosis, just so you know;

momentum is dependent upon a reference frame whereas inertia is independent of a reference frame.
quantitatively speaking, momentum is a vector quantity:
momentum = (Mass) x (Velocity)
*note that the units work out to be (kg*m)/(s)

yeaaa...dont think that answers anything specifically for you though...ill continue my studies and maybe ill get back at you with a better explanation!

Momentum can be thought of as the ability of a moving body to continue moving along its present path.

In today's lingo, we use momentum to describe something that will keep moving. But it is not the same in physics.

Momentum, in physics, is simply a body's mass multiplied by it's velocity. That's it.

Inertia is thought of as the ability of a body to maintain its state of motion.
So how is Momentum different from Inertia?

Right. Inertia tends to keep moving bodies in motion.

If an object has momentum, inertia will keep it moving.
If an object has no momentum, inertia will keep it still.

Example: If a car is sliding on ice (no friction), it has a certain momentum. Inertia will keep the car sliding until it hits something.

If the car has no momentum, inertia will keep it still.

right...so to add one more thing that helped me grasp the idea;

inertia is the description of newton's laws of motion.
momentum is a physically quantifiable number, its a vector.

Another thing.

Momentum is transferrable from one object to another, inertia isn't (well, not without getting all frankenstein on the masses).

Thanks for the explanations :) I have also started seeing it as Momentum is applied to a moving body while Inertia can also be applied to still bodies

Thanks for the explanations :) I have also started seeing it as Momentum is applied to a moving body while Inertia can also be applied to still bodies
Just to clarify, inertia is ALWAYS there, regardless of motion. Mass is sort of a measure of inertia. The difference between inertia and mass is that how the mass is distributed can effect angular inertia (e.g. rolling bowling ball). I.e. If you've got a 3kg ball with its mass evenly distributed, its angular inertia will be less than a mass with its 3kg (same diameter) focused at the outside of the ball.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/gravitational_mass.jpg

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:laugh: what?!?!