Fourth year of secondary education
Conservation of linear momentum
 Momentum 
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3.2 Particle disintegration into three fragments

When a body disintegrates, it does not necessarily disintegrate into two fragments; it may disintegrate into two, three or countless fragments.

The explosion of a firework, for example, implies its disintegration into many fragments. Can the fragments have any direction and speed? Well, almost; the conservation of linear momentum limits the possibilities of, at least, one of them. 

In the following visual, we see the laws that govern the separation of a body into three fragments, but the conclusions that we will arrive at may be generally valid. 

Objectives
Linear momentum and impulse
What is linear momentum?
What is impulse?
Conservation of linear momentum
Conclusions
Particle collisions
Elastic collisions
Completely inelastic collisions
A real collision
Conclusions
Particle disintegration
Into two fragments
Into three fragments
Conclusions
Evaluation