Impulse vs. Force — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Fiza Rafique — Updated on September 27, 2023
Impulse is the product of force and the time it acts, whereas force is an interaction that changes an object's motion.
Difference Between Impulse and Force
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
In physics, impulse is defined as the change in momentum of an object; it's the result of a force acting over a specific duration. While force can change an object's state of motion, it's the impulse that quantifies that change.
A force is a push or pull upon an object, a vector quantity that can cause acceleration. Impulse, on the other hand, accounts not only for the strength of the force but also for the time during which it acts, making it a measure of the effect of force over a time interval.
Force is fundamental in understanding mechanics and can be constant or variable. But when we talk about impulse, we emphasize the overall effect of the force over the time it was applied, which is why impulse is the integral of force with respect to time.
Consider a baseball being hit by a bat. The force exerted by the bat on the ball causes it to change its velocity, but the impulse delivered to the ball gives us a measure of the total effect of that force during the short time of contact.
While you can have continuous forces acting on bodies, such as gravity or friction, impulse is more about the overall change due to the force and how long it acted, determining the change in momentum of the body.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
Product of force and time it acts
Interaction that changes an object's motion
Representation
Change in momentum
Push or pull upon an object
Measurement
Effect of force over a time interval
Cause of acceleration
Unit
Newton-second (Ns)
Newton (N)
Nature
Overall effect of force
Can be constant or variable
Compare with Definitions
Impulse
Product of force and time over which it acts.
The longer force is applied, the greater the impulse imparted.
Force
Interaction that can cause an object to accelerate.
The force of gravity pulls objects toward the Earth.
Impulse
Represents the overall force-time effect.
The impulse given to the rocket determined its final velocity.
Force
Vector quantity having both magnitude and direction.
The force applied was 10N in the eastward direction.
Impulse
Integral of force with respect to time.
To calculate impulse, integrate the force curve over the time of contact.
Force
In physics, a force is any influence that, when unopposed, will change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (which includes to begin moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate.
Impulse
Change in an object's momentum due to force.
The goalkeeper's hands provided the impulse to stop the soccer ball.
Force
Strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement
He was thrown backwards by the force of the explosion
Impulse
Measure of the total effect of force.
The impulse from the collision was enough to damage the car.
Force
Coercion or compulsion, especially with the use or threat of violence
They ruled by law and not by force
Impulse
An impelling force; an impetus.
Force
Mental or moral strength or power
The force of popular opinion
Impulse
The motion produced by such a force.
Force
An organized body of military personnel or police
A British peacekeeping force
Impulse
A sudden wish or urge that prompts an unpremeditated act or feeling; an abrupt inclination
Had an impulse to run away.
An impulse of regret that made me hesitate.
Bought a hat on impulse.
Force
A waterfall.
Impulse
A motivating force or tendency
"Respect for the liberty of others is not a natural impulse in most men" (Bertrand Russell).
Force
Make a way through or into by physical strength; break open by force
The back door of the bank was forced
Impulse
(Electronics) A surge of electrical power in one direction.
Force
Make (someone) do something against their will
The universities were forced to cut staff
She was forced into early retirement
Impulse
(Physics) The product obtained by multiplying the average value of a force by the time during which it acts. The impulse equals the change in momentum produced by the force in this time interval.
Force
The capacity to do work or cause physical change; energy, strength, or active power
The force of an explosion.
Impulse
(Physiology) The electrochemical transmission of a signal along a nerve fiber that produces an excitatory or inhibitory response at a target tissue, such as a muscle or another nerve.
Force
Power made operative against resistance; exertion
Use force in driving a nail.
Impulse
Characterized by impulsiveness or acting on impulse
An impulse shopper.
Impulse buying.
Force
The use of physical power or violence to compel or restrain
A confession obtained by force.
Impulse
A thrust; a push; a sudden force that impels.
Force
Intellectual power or vigor, especially as conveyed in writing or speech.
Impulse
A wish or urge, particularly a sudden one prompting action.
The impulse to learn drove me to study night and day.
When I saw the new book, I couldn't resist the impulse to browse through it.
Force
Moral strength.
Impulse
(physics) The integral of force over time.
The total impulse from the impact will depend on the kinetic energy of the projectile.
Force
A capacity for affecting the mind or behavior; efficacy
The force of logical argumentation.
Impulse
(transitive) To impel; to incite.
Force
One that possesses such capacity
The forces of evil.
Impulse
The act of impelling, or driving onward with sudden force; impulsion; especially, force so communicated as to produced motion suddenly, or immediately.
All spontaneous animal motion is performed by mechanical impulse.
Force
A body of persons or other resources organized or available for a certain purpose
A large labor force.
Impulse
The effect of an impelling force; motion produced by a sudden or momentary force.
Force
A person or group capable of influential action
A retired senator who is still a force in national politics.
Impulse
The action of a force during a very small interval of time; the effect of such action; as, the impulse of a sudden blow upon a hard elastic body.
Force
Military strength.
Impulse
A mental force which simply and directly urges to action; hasty inclination; sudden motive; momentary or transient influence of appetite or passion; propension; incitement; as, a man of good impulses; passion often gives a violent impulse to the will; to buy something on impulse.
These were my natural impulses for the undertaking.
Force
A unit of a nation's military personnel, especially one deployed into combat
Our armed forces have at last engaged the enemy.
Impulse
To impel; to incite.
Force
A vector quantity indicating the strength and direction of the capacity to accelerate a body. Newton's second law of motion states that a free body accelerates in the direction of the net force and that its acceleration is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to its mass.
Impulse
An instinctive motive;
Profound religious impulses
Force
See fundamental force.
Impulse
A sudden desire;
He bought it on an impulse
Force
(Baseball) A force play.
Impulse
The electrical discharge that travels along a nerve fiber;
They demonstrated the transmission of impulses from the cortex to the hypothalamus
Force
To compel through pressure or necessity
I forced myself to practice daily. He was forced to take a second job.
Impulse
(electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal electrical state (or a series of such transients);
The pulsations seemed to be coming from a star
Force
To gain by the use of force or coercion
Force a confession.
Impulse
The act of applying force suddenly;
The impulse knocked him over
Force
To move or effect against resistance or inertia
Forced my foot into the shoe.
Impulse
An impelling force or strength;
The car's momentum carried it off the road
Force
To inflict or impose relentlessly
He forced his ideas upon the group.
Force
To put undue strain on
She forced her voice despite being hoarse.
Force
To increase or accelerate (a pace, for example) to the maximum.
Force
To produce with effort and against one's will
Force a laugh in spite of pain.
Force
To use (language) with obvious lack of ease and naturalness.
Force
To move, open, or clear by force
Forced our way through the crowd.
Force
To break down or open by force
Force a lock.
Force
To rape.
Force
To induce change in (a complex system) by changing one of its parameters
Greenhouse gases that force the earth's climate.
Force
(Botany) To cause to grow or mature by artificially accelerating normal processes.
Force
To put (a runner) out on a force play.
Force
To allow (a run) to be scored by walking a batter when the bases are loaded.
Force
(Games) To cause an opponent to play (a particular card).
Force
Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
The force of an appeal, an argument, or a contract
Force
Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
Force
(countable) Anything that is able to make a substantial change in a person or thing.
Force
A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body and which has a direction and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
Force
Something or anything that has the power to produce a physical effect upon something else, such as causing it to move or change shape.
Force
(countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
Reinforcemented increased the American force in the area to 9,000
Police force
Force
(uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
Show of force
Force
(countable) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.
Force
(legal) Legal validity.
The law will come into force in January.
Force
(legal) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
Force
Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning.
Force
|often|capitalized}}Star Wars A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note.
Force
Synonym of police force
Force
A waterfall or cascade.
Force
(transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape.
Force
To exert oneself, to do one's utmost.
Force
(transitive) To compel (someone or something) to do something.
Force
(transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of.
Force
(transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb).
Force
(transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force.
The comedian's jokes weren't funny, but I forced a laugh now and then.
Force
(transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.).
To force a lock.
Force
To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.
Force
To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground.
Jones forced the runner at second by stepping on the bag.
Force
(whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.
Force
(archaic) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
Force
(archaic) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
Force
(obsolete) To allow the force of; to value; to care for.
Force
To stuff; to lard; to farce.
Force
To stuff; to lard; to farce.
Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit.
Force
To constrain to do or to forbear, by the exertion of a power not resistible; to compel by physical, moral, or intellectual means; to coerce; as, masters force slaves to labor.
Force
To compel, as by strength of evidence; as, to force conviction on the mind.
Force
To do violence to; to overpower, or to compel by violence to one's will; especially, to ravish; to violate; to commit rape upon.
To force their monarch and insult the court.
I should have forced thee soon wish other arms.
To force a spotless virgin's chastity.
Force
To obtain, overcome, or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress; as, to force the castle; to force a lock.
Force
To impel, drive, wrest, extort, get, etc., by main strength or violence; - with a following adverb, as along, away, from, into, through, out, etc.
It stuck so fast, so deeply buried layThat scarce the victor forced the steel away.
To force the tyrant from his seat by war.
Ethelbert ordered that none should be forced into religion.
Force
To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
What can the church force more?
Force
To exert to the utmost; to urge; hence, to strain; to urge to excessive, unnatural, or untimely action; to produce by unnatural effort; as, to force a conceit or metaphor; to force a laugh; to force fruits.
High on a mounting wave my head I bore,Forcing my strength, and gathering to the shore.
Force
To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit of which he has none.
Force
To provide with forces; to reënforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
Force
To allow the force of; to value; to care for.
For me, I force not argument a straw.
Force
To use violence; to make violent effort; to strive; to endeavor.
Forcing with gifts to win his wanton heart.
Force
To make a difficult matter of anything; to labor; to hesitate; hence, to force of, to make much account of; to regard.
Your oath once broke, you force not to forswear.
I force not of such fooleries.
Force
To be of force, importance, or weight; to matter.
It is not sufficient to have attained the name and dignity of a shepherd, not forcing how.
Force
A waterfall; a cascade.
To see the falls for force of the river Kent.
Force
Capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect; strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigor; might; often, an unusual degree of strength or energy; especially, power to persuade, or convince, or impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special signification; as, the force of an appeal, an argument, a contract, or a term.
He was, in the full force of the words, a good man.
Force
Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion; as, by force of arms; to take by force.
Which now they hold by force, and not by right.
Force
Strength or power for war; hence, a body of land or naval combatants, with their appurtenances, ready for action; - an armament; troops; warlike array; - often in the plural; hence, a body of men prepared for action in other ways; as, the laboring force of a plantation; the armed forces.
Is Lucius general of the forces?
Force
Strength or power exercised without law, or contrary to law, upon persons or things; violence.
Force
Any action between two bodies which changes, or tends to change, their relative condition as to rest or motion; or, more generally, which changes, or tends to change, any physical relation between them, whether mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic, or of any other kind; as, the force of gravity; cohesive force; centrifugal force.
Thy tears are of no force to mollifyThis flinty man.
More huge in strength than wise in works he was.
Adam and first matron EveHad ended now their orisons, and foundStrength added from above, new hope to springOut of despair.
Force
A unit that is part of some military service;
He sent Caesar a force of six thousand men
Force
One possessing or exercising power or influence or authority;
The mysterious presence of an evil power
May the force be with you
The forces of evil
Force
(physics) the influence that produces a change in a physical quantity;
Force equals mass times acceleration
Force
Group of people willing to obey orders;
A public force is necessary to give security to the rights of citizens
Force
A powerful effect or influence;
The force of his eloquence easily persuaded them
Force
An act of aggression (as one against a person who resists);
He may accomplish by craft in the long run what he cannot do by force and violence in the short one
Force
Physical energy or intensity;
He hit with all the force he could muster
It was destroyed by the strength of the gale
A government has not the vitality and forcefulness of a living man
Force
A group of people having the power of effective action;
He joined forces with a band of adventurers
Force
(of a law) having legal validity;
The law is still in effect
Force
To cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means :
She forced him to take a job in the city
He squeezed her for information
Force
Urge or force (a person) to an action; constrain or motivate
Force
Move with force,
He pushed the table into a corner
Force
Impose or thrust urgently, importunately, or inexorably;
She forced her diet fads on him
Force
Squeeze like a wedge into a tight space;
I squeezed myself into the corner
Force
Force into or from an action or state, either physically or metaphorically;
She rammed her mind into focus
He drives me mad
Force
Do forcibly; exert force;
Don't force it!
Force
Cause to move along the ground by pulling;
Draw a wagon
Pull a sled
Force
Take by force;
Storm the fort
Force
A push or pull upon an object.
He used force to open the stuck door.
Force
Fundamental concept in mechanics.
Without force, there would be no motion.
Force
Can be due to contact or at a distance.
Magnetic force can act at a distance without direct contact.
Common Curiosities
How do impulse and force differ in representation?
Impulse represents the change in momentum due to force, while force is a push or pull on an object.
What does force cause in an object?
Force causes an object to change its state of motion or accelerate.
How is impulse related to force in physics?
Impulse is the product of force and the time over which it acts.
How is impulse related to conservation of momentum?
Impulse describes the change in momentum, which is conserved in the absence of external forces.
Is impulse always equal to the change in momentum?
Yes, impulse is always equal to the change in an object's momentum.
Which has a unit of Newton-second?
Impulse has a unit of Newton-second (Ns).
Can force act over a distance without contact?
Yes, certain forces like gravitational and magnetic forces can act at a distance without direct contact.
Is force scalar or vector?
Force is a vector quantity, having both magnitude and direction.
Why is force fundamental in mechanics?
Force is fundamental because it's responsible for changes in motion, a core concept in mechanics.
What determines the magnitude of impulse?
The magnitude of impulse is determined by the force applied and the time duration it acts.
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Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
