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The article discusses the development of the concept of momentum in kindergarten and grades 1-3 at the Whittier Elementary School in Berkeley, California. This study determines the sequence of acquisition of concepts that were asked for an understanding of momentum. This sequence is arranged as follows: conservation of matter, speed, the proportional use of mass and speed, and momentum. The analysis shows that the components of this sequence must be achieved before the subject attains the concept of momentum. Results suggest that there was a decreasing degree of difficulty on the tasks from kindergarten through the third grade.