This chapter defines the conserved quantities associated with an isolated dynamical system, that is, the quantities which remain constant during the motion of the system. The law of momentum conservation follows directly from Newton’s third law. The superposition principle for forces allows Newton’s law of motion for a body Pa acted on by other bodies Pa′ in an inertial Cartesian frame S. The law of angular momentum conservation holds if the forces acting on the elements of the system depend only on the separation of the elements. Finally, the conservation of total energy requires in addition that the forces be derivable from a potential.
Suppression of Penning ionization by orbital angular momentum conservation
