Dangerous momentum

All too often, we extrapolate tomorrow based on the momentum of today's trends. But we would do well to adopt our primitive fear of physical momentum when assessing the prospects for financial markets, argues David Rowe

Momentum in physics is mass times velocity. Intuitively, it is the 'power' in a moving object and is proportional to the energy needed to stop its motion. An implication of this is that the greater the momentum of an object, the greater are the destructive consequences of a collision. At an instinctive level, most people realise this while driving and adjust their speed accordingly. (It is also the reason motorcycles can decelerate faster than cars since smaller mass implies less momentum at any