The linear momentum transfer occurring in central heavy ion collisions
is studied within the Landau Vlasov model. A sensitivity to the equat
ion of stare is found for this observable. Assuming the free nucleon-n
ucleon cross section, a soft compressibility modulus (around 210 MeV)
is required to reproduce the large amount of data available for linear
momentum transfer. This result stands for local and nonlocal effectiv
e potentials.