In physics, impulse is the change in momentum of an object
. Momentum is a vector quantity, so impulse is also a vector quantity. Impulse is often stated to be the product of the average net force that acts on an object for a certain duration. The equation for impulse is given as J = F⋅Δt, where J is impulse, F is the force applied, and Δt is the time interval over which the force is applied
. The SI unit of impulse is the newton second (N⋅s), and the dimensionally equivalent unit of momentum is the kilogram meter per second (kg⋅m/s)
. Impulse is important and useful because forces in the real world are often not constant, and working out the overall effect of all these forces directly would be quite difficult. When we calculate impulse, we are multiplying force by time, which is equivalent to finding the area under a force-time curve
