Impulse Calculator
Calculate impulse from force and time, or from mass and velocity change.
Enter any two variables to find the third using the impulse-momentum theorem.
Impulse is the product of force and the time over which it acts. It equals the change in momentum of the object the force acts on.
J = F x Δt = Δp = m x Δv
This is the impulse-momentum theorem, one of the most practically useful relationships in mechanics. It tells you that the same change in momentum can be produced by a large force over a short time, or a small force over a long time.
Engineers exploit this constantly. A car airbag does not reduce the change in momentum during a crash — the occupant still decelerates from 60 mph to 0. What the airbag does is extend Δt from ~0.01 seconds to ~0.05 seconds, cutting the peak force by a factor of five.
A baseball pitcher throwing at 95 mph exerts roughly the same impulse per pitch as a slow-pitch softball thrower, but the mechanics look completely different. The fast pitcher applies less force over more time during the windup; the delivery itself is just the release.
Units: impulse is measured in newton-seconds (N·s) or kilogram-meters per second (kg·m/s). These are the same unit — 1 N·s = 1 kg·m/s.
This calculator solves for:
- Impulse J: given force (F) and time (Δt), or mass (m) and velocity change (Δv)
- Force F: given impulse and time
- Time Δt: given impulse and force
- Velocity change Δv: given impulse and mass
Select what you want to calculate, enter the known values.
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
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