Question

Can momentum be hidden to human eyes like how kinetic energy can be hidden as heat?

Answer 1

Yes it can be hidden to human eyes. But that is merely a limitation of human eye itself & it doesn't mean momentum just vanished or isn't present at all. You can consider two balls for example of same masses moving in opposite direction. In a perfectly inelastic collision, they would essentially be at rest i.e. Momentum is zero. However if we took a closer look, its kinetic enery is all that changed to heat energy & heat itself is nothing but vibraion of micro particles i.e. the momentum actually is transferred to the atoms of the balls. So yes it is hidden to human eye though it doesn't actually vanish

If you've any doubts, do let me know in the comment section below.

Happy studying!

Stay home, stay safe : ).