Conservation of momentum in Physics help?!?

Conservation of momentum in Physics help?!?



Hi I'm doing this lab where there are three situations: 
1) There are two balls of the same mass, A and B, A is 10 cm away from B and A hits B until B passes 10 cm. 
2) The same as 1 except with DIFFERENT masses 
3) There are three balls, two are side by side, and the other ball hits these two balls, making the two balls go off in different angles. 

Which of these show momentum conserved? 

How does mass affect anything?





Posted Answers:

Situation 3 is the best example of conservation of momentum.

Our definition of momentum is the product of the objects mass and velocity, where both momentum and velocity are vectors. This means that the direction the ball is traveling is taken into account when calculating momentum. If Ball 1 hits Ball 2 and Ball 3, then the initial momentum of Ball 1 must be equal to the total momentum of all three balls combined (assuming no outside forces were applied).