lia SMUTCHAPTER 1 Kinematics - describing motion : Tab 1 define displacement, speed and velocity; 2. use graphical methods to represent distance travelled, displacement, speed and velocity; 3 use the slope of a displacement-time graph to find velocity, and of a distance-time graph to find speed; 4 distinguish between scalar and vector quantities, and give examples. Describing movement Ou Sere pee Ne ma verten We otice even quite small movements out of the cornecs Sanda: Ws legate ie se Ue she tn fain ined Mink sbeiat cooening the road, cycling or driving, catching a ball. Photography has played a big part in help to understand selina, -hee hanich pnctopi pher Eadweard Muybridge used several cameras to take sequences of photographs of moving animals sad propia Tie wis die dies than, scans times, a trotting horse has all four feet off the Pree ee ae ene ground (figure 1.1). This had been the subject of camera's shutter was open: the stretlights were much argument, and even of a $25 000 bet. stationary. The shutter was open for several seconds. a re | ie 7 Se © Figure 1.1 Muybridge’s sequence of photographs of a horse trotting,Figure 1.2 shows another way in which move- ment can be recorded on a photograph. Anything which moves while the camera's shutter is open. leaves a blurred image on the film. If we knew how long the shutter was open for, we could estimate the speed of the moving cars. Defining speed and veloci You can mg ‘out the speed of a oa if you know the distance they have run and the time they have taken, The photograph (figure 1.3) shows Michael Johnson just afer he won the 200m sprint atthe Olympic Games of 1996. The average speed of the fastest 200 m runners is often greater than the average speed of the fastest 100m runners. Speed ‘We can calculate the speed of something moving if we know the distance it moves and the time it takes: distance moved average speed = TF en If the object is moving at a steady speed, this equation will give us its speed during the time taken. If its speed is changing, then the equation «gives us its average speed. Units In standard (SI) units, distance is measured in ‘metres (m) and time in seconds (s). Therefore, speed ¢ Figure 1.3 This photograph of Michael Johnson, contains enough information to enable us to work out the runner's average speed. @ Table 1.1 Units of speed. is in metres per second (mjs). This is also written as ms", Here, sis the same as 1/s, or ‘per second’. ‘There are many other units used for speed; the choice of unit depends on the situation. You would probably give the speed of a snail in different units from the speed of a racing car. Table 1.1 includes some non-standard units of speed. Note that in many calculations it is necessary to work in standard units (ms” SAQ 1.1 ——____ Here are some units of speed: ms! mms! — km/s km/t mph Which of these units would be appropriate when stating the speed of each of the following? a a tortoise da sprinter b acaronalong joumey — e_anaircraft © light Velocity and displacement Often in physics, we are concerned with the speed of an object and the direction in which it is moving. Speed and direction are combined in a different quantity, velocity: velocity = speed in a particular direction Similarly, we combine the distance something moves and the direction in which it moves in a quantity called displacement: displacement distance moved in a particular direction So, to give the velocity or displacement of some- thing, we have to state the direction in which it is moving. For example: velocity: the aircraft flew due north at 300ms" displacement: the aircraft flew 600 km due north.4 Forces and motion @ Table 1.2 Standard symbols and units. (Take care not to confuse italic s for displacement with s for seconds. You may even see s for speed!) Velocity and displacement are quantities which are only completely defined when we state both their magnitude (size) and direction. These are known as vector quantities, or simply as vectors, Speed and distance are quantities which only have magnitude, not direction. They are known as scalar quantities. From now on, you need to be clear about the distinction between velocity and speed, and displacement and distance. Table 1.2 shows the standard symbols and units for these quantities, SAQ 1.2. Which of these gives speed, velocity, distance or displacement? (Look back at the definitions of these quantities) a The ship sailed SW for 200 miles. b averaged 7 mph during the marathon. ¢ The snail crawled at 2 mms" along the bench. The sales representative's round trip was 420km. Displacement-time and distance-time graphs ‘We can represent the changing position of a mov- ing object by drawing a displacement-time graph. ‘The slope of the graph tells us about its velocity figure 15). The steeper the slope, the greater the velocity. (A graph like this can tell us if an object is moving forwards or backwards, but not its gen- eral direction. We must assume that the object is moving in a straight line. If the speed is negative, the object is moving backwards.) Note that: = the slope of a displacement-time graph tells us about velocity, because both displacement and velocity are vector quantities; Figure 14 Ifyou go on a long walk, the distance you travel will be greater than your displacement, In this example, the walkers travel a distance of 15 km, but their displacement is only 10 km, because this is the distance from the start to the finish of their walk. ‘The straight line shows that the E object is moving steadily: its velocity is constant. Asa convention, we usually start from the origin, ie. s=0 when t= 0. high low ‘The slope tells us which s object is moving faster. The steeper the slope, the greater the velocity. ‘The slope of this graph is 0 Displacement s is not changing. Velocity v = 0, The object is stationary. ‘The slope of this graph suddenly becomes negative. The object is ‘moving back the way it came. Its velocity v is negative. ae a ‘This displacement-time graph is curved. The slope is changing. This ‘means that the object’s velocity is changing. This is considered on page 19. © Figure 1.5 The slope of a displacement-time graph tells us about how fast an object is moving.Kinematics - describing motion 5 nn ed : t © Figure 16 For SAQ1.3. 1m the slope of a distance-time graph tells us about speed, because both distance and speed are scalar quantities. Always check the axes of the graph to see which quantities are being shown. SAQ 1.3, The sketch graph in figure 1.6 represents the journey of a bus along a town’s High Street. What does the graph tell you about the bus's journey? SAQ 1.4. Figure 1.7 shows a more complex displacement-time graph. You are walking across a field, Suddenly you see a bull, and stop. Your friend says there’s no dan- ger, so you walk on. The bull bellows, and you run back to the gate. Explain how each section of the walk relates to a section of the graph oO Figure 1.7 Displacement-time graph for an encounter with a bull (SAQ 1.4), Note that sudden changes in speed like this are unrealistic. The graph should have curves rather than sudden changes in slope, S SAQ 1.5. Sketch a displacement-time graph to show the following car journey: The car waited at the traffic lights. It drove slowly along the avenue, then faster when it reached the country road. Measuring distance and time to find speed You can find the speed of something moving by measuring the time it takes to travel between two fixed points. For example, here are three ways of | finding the speed of a moving car: 1m Motorways and major roads often have marker posts every 100m, Using a stopwatch, time the car over a distance of, say, 500m. = On some roads, white squares are painted at | intervals on the road surface. By timing a car between two of these markers, the police can determine whether the driver is speeding. m= In some traffic surveys, pairs of rubber detectors are laid across the road. A car crossing the first one starts a clock; crossing the second one stops the clock Note that each of these can only tell you the car's average speed between the two points. You can't tell whether it was speeding up, slowing down, or moving at a steady speed © Figure 18 The police have several ‘ways of checking how fast someone is travelling, From the high vantage point of helicopter, they can monitor the speed of traffic. They measure the time taken by a car to travel between two fixed points on the road below.6 Forces and motion Laboratory measurements =~ Here are some different ways to measure the speed of a moving trolley in the laboratory. They can be adapted to measure the speed of other moving objects, such as a glider on an air track, or a falling weight. Using two light gates ‘The card in figure 19 breaks the light beam as it passes the first light gate. This starts the timer. It breaks the second beam to stop the timer. The trolley’s speed is calculated from the time interval and the distance between the light gates. ‘Using one light gate ‘The timer in figure 1.10 starts when the leading edge of the card breaks the light beam. It stops when the trailing edge passes through. In this case, the time shown tells you how long it took for the trolley to travel a distance equal to the length of the card. The computer software can calculate the speed directly by dividing the distance, s, by the time taken, t. . a # Figure 19 Using two light gates to find the average velocity of a trolley. @ Figure 1.11 Using a tickertimer to investigate the motion of a trolley. Using a ticker-timer ‘The ticker-timer (figure 1.11) marks dots on the tape at regular intervals, usually 3 s (i.e. 0.025). (This is because it works with alternating current, and the frequency of the alternating mains is 50 Hz.) The pattern of dots acts as a record of the trolley's movement. Start by inspecting the tape. This will give you a description of the trolley’s movement. Identify the start of the tape. Then look at the spacing of the dots: = even spacing - steady speed: = increasing spacing ~ increasing speed. Now you can make some measurements. Measure the distance of every fifth dot from the start of the tape; this will give you the trolley’s distance at intervals of 0.1, Put the measurements in a table Now you can draw a distance-time graph, Using 2 motion sensor ‘The motion sensor figure 1.12) transmits regular pulses of sound waves at the trolley. It detects the reflected waves, and determines the time they ‘© Figure 1.10 Using a single light gate to find the average velocity of a trolley. © Figure 112 Using a motion sensor to investigate the motion of a trolley.Kinematics - describing motion 7 a took for the trip to the trolley and back. From, this, the computer can deduce the distance to the trolley, and it then generates a distance-time graph. The speed of the trolley can be found from the slope of the graph. Since the computer can calculate this, too, it can show a speed-time graph instead of a distance-time graph. Choosing the best method Fach of these methods for finding the speed of a trolley has its merits. In choosing a method, you might think about the following points: = Does the method give an average value of speed, or can it be used to give the speed of the trolley at different points along its journey? m= How precisely does the method measure time ~ to the nearest millisecond? = How simple and convenient is the method to set up in the lab? Note that the methods described above are used for finding out about the distance moved by the trolley, and its speed. Since you already know the direction in which it was travelling, you now know its displacement and its velocity. More methods of measuring speed are discussed on page 14 SAQ. 1.6 ———__$_$_______— A trolley with a 5.0cm long card passed through a single light gale; the time recorded by a digital timer was 040s, What was the average speed of the trolley in ms? SAQ.1.7——________—— Figure 1.15 shows two ticker-tapes. What can you say about how the trolleys which produced them were moving? SAQ 1.8 —$— << <<_____— Four methods for determining the speed of a mov ing trolley are described above. Each could be adapted to investigate the motion of a falling weight. Choose two methods which you think would be suitable, and write a paragraph for each to say how you would adapt it for this purpose. © Figure 1.13 Tickertapes; for SAQ 1.7, Speed and velocity calculations ‘Tuere are three ways in which the equation for velocity 7 =f cabibe leaf ringediepsedinitin velocity v= 5 displacement s =v xt ‘ 5 time t == Note that each of these equations is balanced in terms of units, For example, consider the equation for displacement. The units on the righthand side are m s' x s, which simplifies to m, the correct | units for displacement. Note also that we can, of course, use the same equations to find speed and distance, that is: s speed v= t distance s =v xt © Figure 1.14 Bats have poor eyesight but excellent hearing. They transmit regular bursts of ultrasonic waves, and listen for waves reflected from nearby objects, They are able to assess the distance of the reflecting object from the time the reflected waves take to return to their ears.8 Force: ILis helpful to start by writing down what you know and what you want to know: v=15ms? 1 =1h=3600s s=? Choose the appropriate version of the equation and substitute in the values; include units: s=yxt= 15ms"! x 3600s = 54000m = 54km The car will travel 54km in 1 hour. Take care with units; it is best to work in m and s. You need to be able to express numbers in scientific notation (using powers of ten), and to work with these on your calculator. v=3x10°ms! . 5 = 150000 000km = 150000000 000m =15x10"'m 5 15x10"m ~v 3x10ms" Light takes 5005s (about 8 minutes) to travel from, the Sun to the Earth. = 500s Making the most of units In the worked examples above, each quantity has been shown with its units. You can use this as a helpful check that you have used the correct equation; for example, that you have not divided one quantity by another when you should have multiplied them. The units of an equation must be balanced, just as the numerical values on each side of the equation must be equal. For example, in the first example, on the right-hand side we have: ms?xs=m Since we know that the quantity we are trying to calculate is a distance, its units must be metres, and so we are probably using the correct equation. If you take care with units, you may be able to carry out calculations in non-standard units, such. as kilometres per hour, without having to convert to metres and seconds. For example, how far does a spacecraft travelling at 40000 kmh” travel in one day? Since there are 24 hours in one day, we have: 40000kmh" x 24h, 960000 km_ distance travelle: Deducing velocity from a displacement-time graph ‘A toy car moves along a straight track, Its displace- ‘ment at different times is shown in table 13. This data can be used to draw a displacement-time graph from which we can deduce the car’s velocity. Its useful to inspect the data first, to see what ‘we can deduce about the pattern of the car's ‘movement. In this case, the displacement increases steadily at first, but after 3s it becomes constant. In other words, initially the car is mov- ing ata steady velocity, but then it stops. Now we can plot the displacement-time graph (figure 115). ‘We want to work out the velocity of the car over the first 3 seconds. To do this we need to work out the gradient (slope) of the graph, because: velocity = gradient of displacement-time graph We draw a rightangled triangle as shown. Now, to find the car's velocity, we need to divide a ¢ Table 13 Displacement-time data for toy car, s(m) | { ft a a ua ie ¢ Figure 1.15 Displacement-time graph for a toy ‘car; data as shown in rable 13,Kinematics - describing motion 9 EE displacement by a time. These are given by the two sides of the triangle labelled As and At. change in displacement change in time As_(7-1)m_6m ie ie, velocity v= “At” (3-0)s Ifyou are used to finding the gradient of a graph, you may be able to reduce the number of steps in this calculation, Note that we are using As to mean ‘change in s’. ‘The symbol A, Greek letter delta, means ‘change in’, It does not represent a quantity (in the way that s does); it is simply a convenient way of representing a change in a quantity. Another way. to write As would be 5; ~ s,, but this is more time- consuming and less clear. SAQ 1.9 ——___. Table 1.4 shows the displacement of a racing car as it travels along a straight track during a speed trial. © Table 14 Data for SAQ.1.9. a. By inspecting the data, deduce the car's velocity. b_ Draw a displacement-time graph and use it to find the car's velocity. SAQ 1.10 ——_____———— A submarine uses sonar to measure the depth of water below it. Reflected sound waves are detected 045 after they are transmitted. How deep is the water? (Speed of sound in water = 1500s") (Note: The sound waves travel to the sea-bed and back again. You will have to halve the time stated in the question, or find the distance travelled by the sound in 0.4 s and halve it) SAQ 1.11. The Earth takes one year to orbit the Sun at a distance of 1.5 x 10" m. Calculate its speed. Explain why this is its average speed, not its velocity (Step 1: Calculate the distance round the orbit using, 2nr. Step 2: Work out the number of seconds in 1 year. Step 3: Calculate the speed, VIVA ‘@ Displacement is the distance travelled in a particular direction. @ Velocity is the speed in a particular direction: displacement wetocity = “time taken. The gradient (slope) of a distance-time graph gives speed. @ The gradient of a displacement-time graph gives velocity: As eae at Ascalar quantity has magnitude; a vector quantity has both magnitude and direction. ‘@ Distance and speed are scalar quantities: dis- ‘placement and velocity are vector quantities. 1 Asnail crawls 12cm in one minute. What is its speed in mms '? 2 Aveteran car travels due south from London to Brighton. The distance it has travelled at hourly intervals is shown in table 15, a Draw a graph to represent the car's journey. b From the graph, deduce the car's speed during the first three hours of the journey. ¢ What is the car’s average velocity during the whole journey? 4 (Brighton) © Table 1.5 Data for question 2. eee ee Eeine Accelerated motion define acceleration; use graphical methods to eer displacement, speed, velocity and acceleration; the displacement by cal use the slope of a velocity-ti derive, from the definitions of uniformly accelerated motion use equations which rep ‘a speed-time graph, and ime graph; ina straight line, : including falling in a unitorn Gra anne TO! BAGG He saletonce: interpret displacement-time and speed-time graphs for motion with non-uniform acceleration. Defining acceleration A sprinter can outrun a car ~ but only for the first couple of seconds of a race! Figure 2.1 shows how. ‘The sprinter gets off to a flying start. She accel- erates rapidly from a standing start, and reaches top speed after 25. The car cannot speed up like this. However, after about 3s, it is travelling faster than the sprinter, and moves into the lead. The meaning of acceleration ‘The word accelerating means ‘speeding up’. Anything whose speed is increasing is accelerating. Anything whose speed is decreasing is decelerating. START To be more precise in our definition of accelera- tion, we should think of it as changing velocity. Any object whose speed is changing or which is changing its direction has acceleration. Because acceleration is linked to velocity in this way, it follows that it is a vector quantity. Some examples of objects accelerating are shown in figure 22. Calculating acceleration The acceleration of something tells you the rate at which its velocity is changing. Language can get awkward here, Looking at the sprinter in figure 2.1, @ Figure 2.1 The sprinter has a greater acceleration than the car, but her top speed is less.‘Accelerated motion 11 Acar setting off from the traffic ‘There is an instant when the car is both lights. stationary and accelerating, Otherwise it would not start moving. At above). Then the acceleration ‘Acar speeding —_| ‘The driver presses on the r up asit leaves the | accelerator pedal to is given by: town, increase the car's speed, v-w F Units of acceleration ‘The units of acceleration are ms~ (metres per second squared, or metres per second per second). Acar travelling round a bend at a steady speed. ‘The car's speed is constant, but its velocity is changing as it changes direction. ‘The sprinter might have an. acceleration of 5ms™; her speed increases by Sms" every second. You could express acceleration in other units. For example, an a tennis racket. A ball being hit by | Both the ball’s speed and direction are changing. advertisement might claim that a car accelerates from 0 to 60mph in 105. Its acceleration would then be 6mphs™ (6 miles per hour per second), However, mix: ing together hours and seconds is ‘Astone dropped | Gravity makes the stone over a cliff. go faster and faster not a good idea, and so accelera- (chapter 3), tion is almost always given in the standard units of ms, ‘© Figure 2.2 Examples of objects accelerating, ‘we might say, “The sprinter accelerates faster than. the car’. However, ‘faster’ really means ‘greater speed’. So it is better to say, ‘The sprinter has a greater acceleration than the car’. acceleration = rate of change of velocity change in velocity acceleration = time taken So to calculate acceleration a, we need to know ‘two quantities - the change in velocity Av and the time taken At: wv at a Sometimes this equation is written differently. We write u for the initial velocity, and v for the final velocity (because u comes before v in the alpha- bet). The moving object accelerates from u to vin time t (this is the same as the time represented by CN ee Worked examples Note that the bus's initial speed is Oms"'. change in velocity Av = (8 - 0)ms™* time taken = At = 10s ay _8ms at 10s Rearranging the equation gives: Av =ax At=5ms?x2s=10ms7 Take care! Here, the train's final speed is less than its initial speed. To ensure that we arrive at the correct answer, we will use the alternative form of the equation to calculate a. 60ms' v=20ms! t=50s 18ms* acceleration a12 Forces and motion mu a= (20- 60)ms!_—40ms! > 50s 50s abs ‘The minus sign (negative acceleration) indicates that the train is slowing down; it is decelerating, SAQ 2.1. Acar accelerates from a standing start and reaches a speed of 18 m5" after 6s. What is its acceleration? SAQ 2.2. A car driver brakes gently. Her car slows down from 25ms"' to 11 ms" in 20s, What is her acceleration? (Note that, because she is slowing down, her acceleration is negative.) Speed-time and velocity-time graphs speed-time graphs. Tachographs are fitted behind the speedometers of goods vehicles and coaches. They provide a permanent record of the speed of the vehicle, so that checks can be made to ensure that the driver has not been speeding or driving for too long without a break. To many drivers, the tachograph is known as ‘the spy in the cab’. Deducing acceleration The slope of a velocity-time graph tells us whether the object's velocity has been changing at a high rate or a low rate, or not at all (igure 24). We can deduce the value of the acceleration from the gradient of the graph: acceleration = gradient of velocity-time graph ‘A straight line shows constant v SAQ 2.3. acceleration. A stone is dropped from the top of a cliff Its accel- | eration is 9.8ms~. How fast will it be travelling: a after 1s? b after 3s? ore The greater the slope, the high a | greater the acceleration fea | | i | | constant veociy:acceleraion=0. | |. Aepaive stope shows deceleration 4 (a is negative The slope is changing; the ¥ acceleration is changing. t Figure 2.3 The tachograph chart takes 24 hours to complete one rotation. The outer section plots speed (increasing outws rds) against time. © Figure 2.4 The gradient of a velocity-time graph indicates acceleration,Accelerated motion 13 Figure 2.5 Deducing acceleration from a velocity-time graph. ‘The graph (figure 2.5) shows how the velocity of a cyclist changed during the start of a sprint race. ‘We can find his acceleration during the first sec- tion of the graph (where the line is straight) using, the triangle as shown. ‘The change in speed Av is given by the length of the ‘ertical side of the triangle. The time taken At is given by the length of the horizontal side. change in speed time taken _20-0)mst - 5s =4ms? Deducing displacement ‘We can also find the displacement of a moving object from its velocity-time graph, This is given by the area under the graph: acceleration = displacement = area under velocity-time graph Ibis easy to see why this is the case for an object ‘moving at a steady velocity. The displacement is simply velocity x time, which is the area of the shaded rectangle (figure 2.6a) a~20ms-1x 158% 300m. For changing velocity, again the area under the graph gives displacement (figure 2.6b). The area of each square of the graph represents a distance trav- elled: in this case, 1ms"' x 1, or 1m. So, for this simple case in which the area is a triangle, we have displacement = } base x height =) 5s x10 ms” 25m For more complex graphs, you may have to use other techniques such as counting squares to deduce the area, but this is still equal to the displacement. Take care when counting squares: it is easiest when the sides of the squares stand for one unit. Check the axes, as the sides may repre- sent 2 units, or 5 units, or some other number. Itis easy to confuse displacement-time graphs and velocity-time graphs. Check by looking at the quantity marked on the vertical axis. SAQ 2.4. Sketch a velocily-time graph to represent this motio Alorry driver is travelling at the speed limit on a motorway. Ahead, he sees hazard lights and gradually slows down. He sees that an accident has occurred, and brakes suddenly to a halt SAQ 2.5: Look at the tachograph chart shown in figure 2.5. How could you tell from such a chart when the vehicle was: a. stationary? b_ moving slowly? ¢ moving at a steady speed? ¢ Figure 2.6 The area ‘under the velocity~ time graph gives the displacement.14 Forces and motion us SAQ 2.6. Table 2.1 shows how the velocity of a motorcyclist, changed during a speed trial along a straight road. © Table 2.1 Data for SAQ2.6. a Drawa velocity-time graph for this motion. b From the table, deduce the motorcyclists acceleration during the first 10. © Check your answer by finding the gradient of the graph during the first 10s. d What was the motorcyclist’s acceleration during the last 15s? . Use the graph to find the total distance travelled during the speed trial Measuring speed and acceleration Traffic police use speed cameras and hand-held speed ‘guns’ to give instant readings of the speed of moving vehicles. Radio waves are reflected back from the target vehicle to give a direct measure: ment of speed. (The frequency of the waves changes when they are reflected from a moving object.) ‘The photograph (figure 27) shows a speed gun being used to identify motorists who are breakii the speed limit. ‘gure 2.7 This speed gun provides information about a car's speed, which can be used to prosecute speeding drivers. In the laboratory In chapter 1 (pages 6-7) we looked at ways of finding the velocity of a trolley moving in a straight line; these involved measuring distance and time, and deducing velocity. Now we will see how these techniques can be extended to find the acceleration of a trolley. One light gate ‘The computer records the time for the first ‘interrupt’ section of the card to pass through the infrared beam of the light gate (figure 2.8). Given the length of the interrupt, it can work out the trolley’s velocity v;. This is repeated for the second interrupt to give velocity v2. The computer also records the time interval ty ~ f between these two velocity measurements, Now it can calculate the acceleration a: change in velocity _ v2 time taken fy interrupt card ¢ Figure 2.8 Measuring acceleration using a single light gate. ¢ Figure 29 Tickertape for an accelerating trolley.Using a ticker-timer ‘The practical arrangement is the same as for measuring velocity. Now we have to think about how to interpret the tape produced by an acceler ating trolley (figure 2.9). ‘The tape is divided into fivedot sections. (Remember that it is the gaps between the dots which represent the time intervals of 0.025. A five- dot section has five gaps, and represents 0.1 s) You can get a picture of the trolley’s motion by placing the sections of tape side-by-side. This is in effect a velocity-time graph. ‘The length of each section gives the trolley’s displacement in 0.1, from which the average velocity during this time can be found. This can be repeated for each section of the tape, and a vyelocity-time graph drawn. The gradient gives the acceleration. Table 2.2 and figure 2.10 show some typical results. ‘The acceleration is calculated to be: Av at vims} | i) Figure 2.10 Deducing acceleration from measurements of a tickertape. ¢ Table 2.2 Data for figure 2.10. ‘Accelerated motion 15 cnc Using 2 motion sensor ‘The computer software which handles the data provided by the motion sensor can calculate the acceleration of a trolley. However, because it deduces velocity from measurements of position, and then calculates acceleration from values of velocity, its precision is relatively poor. ‘Accelerometers ‘An accelerometer card (figure 2.11) can be fitted to a trolley, When the trolley accelerates forwards, the pendulum swings backwards. When the trol- ley is moving at a steady speed (or stationary), its acceleration is zero. The pendulum remains at the midpoint, @ Figure 2.11 An accelerometer card uses a pendulum to give direct measurements of the acceleration of a trolley. « Figure 2.12 Practical accelerometers are important in aircraft. By continuously monitoring a plane's acceleration, its control systems can calculate its speed, direction and position,16 Forces and motion Ina similar way, a simple pendulum can act as an accelerometer. If it hangs down inside a car, it will swing backwards as the car accelerates forwards. It will swing forwards as the car deceler- ates, The greater the acceleration, the greater the angle to the vertical at which it hangs. SAQ 2.; Figure 2.15 shows the dimensions of an interrupt card, together with the times recorded as it passed through a light gate. Use these measurements to calculate the acceleration of the card. (Follow the steps outlined on page 14.) SAQ 2.8 Sketch a section of ticker-tape for a trolley which trav: els at a steady velocity and which then decelerates. SAQ 2.9 Two adjacent five-dot sections of a ticker-tape measure 10cm and 16cm respectively. The interval between dots is 0.02, Deduce the acceleration of the trolley which produced the tape. The equations of motion ss a space HORE CRGUREERS ected pect steadily increases. It is accelerating (figure 2.14). Eventually it will reach a speed of several kilo- metres per second. Any astronauts aboard find themselves pushed back into their seats while the rocket is accelerating. 00s O28 03s 035s, Sem Sem Ee aA © Figure 214 Arocket accelerates as it lifts off from the ground, ‘The engineers who have planned the mission must be able to calculate how fast the rocket will be travelling and where it will be at any point in its journey. They have sophisticated computers to do this, using more elaborate versions of the equations given below. ‘There is a set of equations which allows us to calculate the quantities involved when an object is moving with a constant acceleration. The quan- tities we are concerned with are: u initial velocity v final velocity 5 displacement t time taken @ acceleration Here are the four equations of motion. Take care when you use them; they only apply ‘= to motion ina straight line; = to an object moving with a constant acceleration. Equation: v=u+ar Equation 2: v= u? + as Equation 3: s=ut+ jat* A (uty Equation 4: s=—5— xt To get a feel for how to use these equations, we will consider some worked examples. We will look at where these equations come from at the end of this chapter.Accelerated motion 17 rs ee Worked examples In each example, we will follow the same procedure. Step 1. We write down the quantities which we know, and the quantity we want to find. Step 2. Then we choose the equatici which links these quantities, and substitute in the values Step 5. Finally, we calculate the unknown quantity. and what we want to know: Step 2. The equation linking u,a, t and v is equation 1: v=utat Substituting gives: v=Oms +20ms?x50s Step 3. Calculation then gives: v= 1000ms" So the rocket will be travelling at 1000 ms“ after 50s. This makes sense, since its velocity increases by 20ms" every second, for 50s. You could use the same equation to work out how long the rocket would take to reach a velocity of 2000m:s"", or the acceleration it must have to reach a speed of 1000ms" in 405, and so on. In this case, we will have to use a different equation, because we know the distance during which the car accelerates, not the time. Step 1. u =8mst a= 1ms? 5 =18m v=? © Figure 2.15 For worked example 2: this car accelerates for a short distance as it travels along the road. Step 2. =u? + 2as {equation 2) P= (8ms +2x1ms? x 18m = 64m?s? + 36m?s* = 100m?s* Step 5. v =10ms! So the car will be travelling at 10ms"' when it stops accelerating, (You may find it easier to carry oul these calculations without including the units of quantities when you substitute in the equation. However, including the units can help to ensure that you end Up with the correct units for the final answer) Step 2. 5 =ut + 4 af? (equation 3) s =20ms" x 30s + 3 x 05m: Step 3. s = 600m + 225m = 885m So the train will travel 885 m while itis accelerating x (505)? @ Figure 2.16 For worked example 3: accelerates for 30s. @ Figure 2.17 For worked example 4: the cyclist brakes (o stop herself colliding with the wall.18 Forces and motion This example shows that it is sometimes necessary to rearrange an equation, to make the unknown quantity its subject. I is easiest to do this before substituting in the values. Step 1 u=15ms! v =0mst 5 =18m oer Step 2. =u? + 2as (equation 2) Rearranging: a = frau) : 2s _(0=15%m?s) _-225 |» 2x 18m 36 Step 5. a =~625ms* So the cyclist will have to brake hard to achieve a deceleration of 6.25 ms, The minus sign shows that her acceleration is negative, ie. a deceleration SAQ 2.10 A car is initially stationary. It moves off with acceleration 2ms*. a How fast will it be moving after 10s? b_ How far will it move in 10s? How long will it take to reach a velocity of 24ms? SAQ 2.11. A train accelerates steadily from 4ms~! to 20m: in 100s. a What is its acceleration? b_ From its initial and final velocities, calculate its average velocity. ¢ How far will it travel in this time? SAQ 2.12. Acar is moving at 8s", The driver makes it accelerate at 1.0m for a distance of 18m. What velocity does it reach? Deriving the equations of motion On the previous pages, we have seen how to make use of the equations of motion. But where do these equations come from? ¢ Figure 2.18 This graph represents the velocity of, an object moving with constant acceleration. Equation 1 We can find the first two equations from the velocity-time graph shown in figure 2.18. The graph represents the motion of an object; initially, its velocity is u. After time t, its velocity is vy, Because the graph is a straight line, we can say that the object’s acceleration a is constant, and equal to the gradient (slope) of the line. The acceleration is defined by: ew which is the gradient of the line, and rearranging gives the first equation of motion: veutat (equation 1) Equation 4 ‘The object's average velocity, calculated by averaging its initial and final velocities, is (u + v)/2. But rocity = #isblacement, s average velocity = “time taken, t (uty) So Fi s a uty) Rearranging gives s= Equation 3 From equations 1 and 4, we can derive equation 3: veutat {equation 1)But . ry) 2 (equation 4) s Substituting v from equation 1 gives: (et) 2 So s=ut+ fat? Equation 2 Equation 2 is also derived from equations 1 and 4. (equation 3) wou) t s-lurwxt Multiplying these two together gives: as= vr) xtx Cancelling t and multiplying out gives 2as = (v + uu) =v? = a Rearranging gives vou? + 2as (equation 2) ‘Area under the #~f graph Equations 3 and 4 tell us how to calculate displacement s. Displacement is the area under the velocity-time graph. From figure 2.18, we can see that the area is made up of two parts: the shaded rectangle and the shaded triangle. area of rectangle = base x height = ut area of triangle = } base x height = } tx (v~ 1) Substituting (v ~ u) = at gives: area of triangle = Jt at . and the total area under the graph, which equals . the displacement, gives the second equation of motion: s®ut+ fat? {equation 3) Figure 2.19 is the same graph as shown in figure 2.18, with the average velocity indicated. The @ Figure 2.19 The average velocity lies halfway between wand v. distance travelled is now given by the area of the shaded rectangle; this is average velocity x time (equation 4). You should be able to see that this has the same area as the shaded rectangle + triangle in the other graph. Uniform and non-uniform acceleration Itis important to note that the equations of motion only apply to an object which is moving with a constant acceleration. If a was changing, you wouldn’t know what value to put in the ‘equations. Constant acceleration is often referred to as uniform acceleration. ‘The velocity-time graph in figure 2.20 shows non-uniform acceleration. It is not a straight line; its gradient is changing (in this case, decreasing). Clearly we could not derive such simple equations from this graph. ¢ Figure 2.20 This curved velocity-time graph might show how a car accelerates until it reaches its top speed. A graph like this cannot be analysed using, the equations of motion.20 Forces and motion s(m) “ 30: - 25: 20 15: 10: SAQ 2.13. The graph shown in figure 2.22 represents the motion of an object moving with varying acceleration, Lay your ruler on the diagram so that it is tangential to the graph at point P. a What are the values of time and velocity at this point? b Estimate the object's acceleration at this point. vans) Haat ! i 300 te zt ¢ Figure 2.21 This curved displacement-time graph = hl He shows that the object's velocity is changing. The 200} aah graph can be used to find the velocity of the WEE | f object; draw a tangent to the graph, and find its ‘gradient, i 100. ‘The acceleration at any instant in time is given i a by the gradient of the velocity-time graph. The ik small triangles in figure 2.20 show how to find the ae LEAL acceleration. = At the time of interest, mark a point on the graph, ‘= Draw a tangent to the curve at that point. = Make a right-angled triangle, and use it to find the gradient. Ina similar way, you can find the velocity of an object from the gradient of its displacement-time graph. Figure 2.21 shows a numerical example. At time t= 20s: As_ 10m As odom a veaEn gos osms Figure 2.22 For SAQ2.13Accelerated motion 21 2 ‘The velocity-time graph (figure 2.23) represents the motion of a car along a straight road. a. Describe the car's motion in words. b From the graph, deduce the car's initial and final velocities, and the time during which it was accelerating. © Calculate the car's acceleration. _ By calculating the area under the graph, calculate the car’s displacement. € Check your answer to part d by calculating the car's displacement using s= ut + fat? vims-tj aed ses ah Figure 2.23 For question 1. ‘The diagram (figure 2.24) is taken from the Highway Code. It shows stopping distances for cars travelling at different initial speeds. (Note that not all quantities are given in standard units.) The stopping ‘Typical Stopping Distances: om HEE. oe Dn, oe a HS. ‘© Figure 2.24 For question 2 - stopping distances from the Highway Code. ake, following questions. distance is made up of the thinking dis- tance and the braking distance. a The thinking time is the time which lapses before the brakes are applied, after seeing an obstacle ahead: thinking distance = thinking time x speed Plot a graph to show that the thinking distance increases in propor- tion to the car’s speed. Use your graph to deduce the thinking time. b The braking distance is much greater at high speeds than at low speeds, Plot a graph of the initial speed squared (u?) against braking distance (3). Use the equation v= u? + 2as to calculate the car's deceleration from your graph. In a motorway crash, a car travelling (illegally) at 50m:™ stops in a distance of 4.0m. Calculate: a the acceleration of the car; D the time it takes to stop. Seat belts would probably break during such a crash, Suggest why seat belts are not made stronger. In a 200m race, run on a straight track, the displacement of an athlete after each second was found from analysis of a video film (figure 2.25), From the values of displacement, the average velocity of the athlete during each sec- ond was calculated. This information is displayed in table 2.3. Use the data to plot a velocity-time graph for the athlete during this race, and answer the ‘hey ce a How were the values of velocity calculated?22 Forces and motion b. What was the maximum velocity of the athlete? ¢ Calculate the acceleration of the athlete at the 2nd second and at the ‘9th second. Why does the graph not quite go through the origin? € Sketch a graph of the athlete's acceleration against time. f What is represented by the total area under the velocity-time graph? Explain your answer. © Figure 225 Inger Miller competing in a 200m race. The time taken to complete the race is usually the only physical quantity, measured - but the athlete's speed changes throughout the race. 5 A motorway designer can assume that cars approaching a motorway enter a slip road with a velocity of 10ms™ and need to reach a velocity of 30ms" before joining the motorway. If an acceleration of 4.0ms* is assumed, how long should the slip road be? 6 A train is travelling at 50s" when the driver applies the brakes and gives the train a constant deceleration of 0.5ms for 100 s. Describe what happens to the ‘train and find how far it travels during the 100s. 7 The graph in figure 2.26 shows the speeds of two cars A and B, which are travelling in the same direction over a period of time of 40s. Car A, travelling at a constant speed of 40ms™, overtakes car B at time 1=0.In order to catch up with car A, car B immediately accelerates uniformly for 208 to reach a constant speed of 50ms". Calculate: a_how far A travels during the first 203; b the acceleration and distance of travel of B during the first 205; ¢ the additional time taken for B to catch up with A; how far each car will have then travelled since t= 0; € the greatest distance between the cars ‘before B catches up with A. Timels Figure 2.26 Speed-time graphs for two cars, Table 23 Data for question Aand B (see questiona aes Dynamics - explaining motion demonstrate an understanding that mass change in motion; 3 2 recall and use the equation F= ma, where mass is constant, appreciating that force and acceleration are always in the same directior 3 define the newton; : 4 describe and use the concept of weight as the effect of a gravitational field on a : mass; 5 recall and use the relationship: weight = mass x gravitational field strength 6 describe qualitatively the motion of bodies falling in a uniform gravitational field with fluid resistance. Force and acceleration Each has powerful electric motors which provide M the force needed to get it up to speed - the force In chapters 1 and 2, we saw how motion can be that mane tne Gail aecebets described in terms of displacement, velocity, acceler- Itisere is a differente'beweca ieee Ieee ation and so on. This is known as kinematics. Now | he Underground train has many stops along its we are going to look at how we can explain how an route. It must get up to speed in a matter of seconds object moves, in terms of the forces which change vit must have a igh acceleration. The express train its motion. This is known as dynamnics, has few stops along its route. It doesn’t matter if it Figure 3.1 shows two electric trains. One is a high | _tajes several minutes to reach its top speed ~ its speed express train which runs between London acceleration is low. If you have travelled on the and Paris, The other runs on the Singapore Metro. ‘@ Figure 3.1 The Eurostar train has a greater top speed than the underground train, but its acceleration is smaller24 Forces and motion Underground or a similar rapid-transit system, you will have felt the sudden changes in speed as the train accelerates and decelerates, The other train gives a much smoother ride. Calculating the acceleration Figure 3.2a shows how we represent the force which the motors provide to cause the train to accelerate. The force is represented by an arrow. ‘The direction of the arrow shows the direction of the force, and the magnitude (size) of the force is also shown. In this case, the force is 20000 N. To calculate the acceleration a produced by the force F, we must also know the train's mass m_ {table 3.1). These quantities are related by: F a-= or Fema In this case, we have F = 20000N and ‘m= 10000 kg, and so: F _ 20000N ae 2 mm” 10000kg ~ 7™* a In figure 2.2b, the train is decelerating as it comes into a station. Its acceleration is -3ms™*, What force must be provided by the braking system? F= ma = 10000kg x (-3ms™) = -30000N mass = 10000kg. © Figure 3.2 A force is needed to make the train a accelerate, and b decelerate. © Table 3.1 The quantities related by F= ma. Here, the minus sign shows that the force must act towards the right, in the opposite direction to the train's motion. Newton's second law The equation a = F{m relates acceleration, force and mass. In particular, it shows that the bigger the force, the greater the acceleration it produces. You will probably feel that this is an unsurprising result. We can say that the acceleration is propor tional to the force: asF ‘This relationship is the basis of Newton's second law of motion: ‘The acceleration produced by a force when it acts on a body is proportional to the force and takes place in the direction of the force. ‘The equation also shows that the acceleration produced by a force depends on the mass of the object. The mass of an object is a measure of its, inertia, or its ability to resist any change in its motion. The greater the mass, the smaller the accel- eration which results. If you push your hardest against a Mini, you will have a greater effect than if you push against a Rolls Royce (figure 3.3). So the acceleration is inversely proportional to the mass: aed m ‘The Underground train driver knows that, when the train is full during the rush hour, its accelera- tion is less. This is because its mass is greater when it is full of people. Similarly, it is more Uifficult to stop the train once it is moving. The brakes must be applied earlier if the train isn't to overshoot the platform at the station. © Figure 33 It’s easier to make a small mass accelerate than a large mass.This is a straightforward example; first we must calcu- late the combined mass of the bicycle and its rider: mass of bicycle + rider = 20kg + 60kg = 80kg =m force causing acceleration = 200 = Substituting gives F _200N 80k a 25ms* nm So the cyclist’s acceleration is 25 ms. In this example, we must first calculate the accelera~ tion required. The car's final velocity is Oms~!, so its, change in velocity Av is 20ms"!. The time taken At is 1s hange in velocity acceleration a = $028 in velocity time taken -2 -47 os 2M To calculate the force, we use F=ma = 500kg x 2ms? = 1000N So the brakes must provide a force of 1000 N. —<— — ———————_______— SAQ 3.1 What force is needed to give a car of mass 800 kg, an acceleration of 2ms-°? SAQ 3.2. ‘A rocket has a mass of 5000kg. Its engine provides a force of 200000 N. What is the rocket’s acceleration? SAQ 3.3. {In this question, you will need to make use of the equations of motion which you studied in chapter 2) A motorcyclist of mass 40g rides a bike of mass 6Okg, As she sets off from the lights, the forward force on the bike is 200N. How fast will she be travelling aller 5s? Defining the newton Isaac Newton (1642-1727) played a great part in developing the scientific idea of force. Building on Galileo's earlier thinking, he explained the rela- tionship between force, mass and acceleration, which we now write as F= ma, For this reason, the SI unit of force is named after him. ‘We can use the equation F = ma to say exactly what we mean by a newton. ‘One newton is the force that will give a mass of one kilogram an acceleration of one metre per second squared: AN =1kgx1ms* A little caution is needed here. Newton could only say that the force needed to accelerate an object ‘was proportional to its mass; in other words: force « mass x acceleration We can write this in symbols as: Fema Now, we can make a proportionality into an exact relationship by including a constant of propor. tionality k: Fe kma By setting k equal to 1, we can save ourselves an unnecessary complication. By doing this, we are defining our unit of force (the newton) in terms of existing units, the kilogram, metre and second. With k= 1, the equation F= ka becomes F= ma. SAQ 3.4. The pull of the Earth’s gravity on an apple (its weight) is about 1 newton. We could devise a new interna~ tional system of units by defining our unit of force as the weight of an apple. Give as many reasons as you can why this would not be a very useful definition. Acceleration caused by gravity Ifyou drop a ball or stone, it falls to the ground. ‘The picture based on a multiflash photograph (figure 3.4 on page 26) shows the ball at equal inter- vals of time. You can see that the ball speeds up as it falls. You can see this from the way the spaces26 Forces and motion es oO ¢ Figure 3.4 This image of a falling ball, based on a ‘multiflash photo, clearly shows that the ball speeds up as it falls. between the images of the ball increase steadily. The ball is accelerating, A multiflash photograph is use- ful to demonstrate that the ball accelerates as it falls. Usually, objects fall too quickly for our eyes to be able to observe them speeding up. It is easy to imagine © Figure 35 The weight of an object is a force caused by the Earth’s gravity. It acts vertically downwards on the object. that the ball moves quickly as soon as you let it go, and falls at a steady speed to the ground. Figure 34 shows that this is not the case. ‘The force which causes the ball to accelerate is the pull of the Earth's gravity. Another name for this force is the weight of the ball. The force is shown as an arrow, pulling vertically downwards on the ball (figure 3.5). It is usual to show the arrow coming from the centre of the ball - its centre of gravity. Large and small A large rock has a greater weight than a small rock, but if you push them over a cliff at the same time, they will fall at the same rate. In other words, they have the same acceleration, regardless of their weight. This is a surprising result. Common sense may suggest that a heavier object will fall faster than a lighter one. It is said that Galileo dropped a large cannon ball and a small cannon ball from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and showed that they landed simultaneously. He may never have done this, but the story does illustrate that the result is not intuitively obvious. In fact, we are used to lighter objects falling more slowly than heavy ones. A feather drifts down to the floor, while a stone falls quickly. However, we are being misled by the presence of air resist- ance. The force of air resistance has a large effect on the falling feather, and almost no effect on the stone. When astronauts visited the Moon (where there is no atmosphere and so no air resistance), they were able to show that a feather and a stone fell side-by-side to the ground. If we measure the acceleration of a freely falling object (see pages 28-9), we find a value of approximately 9.8m s™®. This is known as the acceleration due to gravity, and is given the symbol g: acceleration due to gravity g = 9.8ms* ‘We can find the force causing this acceleration using F = ma; this is the object's weight: weight = mg On the Moon ‘The Moon is smaller than the Earth, and so its gravity is weaker. If ‘we were to drop a stone on the Moon, it would fall more slowly. Your hand is about 1 m above ground level; a stone takes about 0.45s to fall through this distance on the Earth, but about 1.1s on the Moon. The acceleration due to gravity on the Moon is about one-sixth of that on the Earth: Moon = 1.6m s™ It follows that objects weigh less on the Moon than on the Earth. ‘They are not completely weightless, because the Moon's gravity is not zero. In fact, the Moon would be a good place to observe an_ object accelerating as it falls, as shown in figure 3.6. Table 3.2 showsDynamics ~ explaining motion 27 @ Table 32 Displacement of an object falling on the Moon, the displacement of a falling object at intervals of 1. These have been calculated as follows: initial velocity u = Oms* acceleration a = 1.6ms* Substituting in s = ut + tat? gives displacement s = 0.8ms7x t? Mass and weight ‘We have now considered two related quantities, mass and weight. It is important to distinguish carefully between these (table 3.3). If your moon-buggy breaks down (figure 3.7), it will be no easier to push it along on the Moon than on the Earth. This is because its mass doesn’t change, because it is made from just the same atoms and molecules wherever it is. From F = ma, it follows that if m doesn't change, you will need the same force F to start it moving. However, your moon-buggy will be easier to lift on the Moon, because its weight will be less. From F = mg, since g is less on the ‘Moon, the force of gravity must be less. © Table 3.3 Distinguishing between mass and weight. Gravitational field strength Here is another way to think about the significance of g. This quantity tells us how strong gravity is at a particular place. The Earth's gravitational field is stronger than the Moon’s: on the Earth’s surface, gravity gives an acceleration of about 9.8 ms™. On the Moon, gravity is weaker; it only gives an acceleration of about 1.6ms*. So g tells us about the strength of the gravitational field at a particular place: = gravitational field strength and ‘weight = mass x gravitational field strength SAQ 3,5 Estimate the mass and weight of each of the following, at the surface of the Earth: aa kilogram of potatoes; damouse; b this book; ea 40-tonne truck © an average student, (For estimates, use g = 10ms-; 1 tonne = 1000kg) ee ee ee @ Figure 36 A falling moon rock has less acceleration than a similar rock on the Earth, so it takes longer to fall a given distance. This would make it ‘easier to see the rock accelerating as it fell. @ Figure 3.7 The mass of a moon- buggy is the same on the Moon as on the Earth, but its weight is less.28 Forces and motion © Table 3.4 For SAQ. 3.6. SAQ 3.6. If you drop a stone from the edge of a cliff, its initial velocity u = 0, and it falls with acceleration g = 9.8ms~2, You can calculate the distance it falls s in a given time f using the equations of motion. a Copy and complete table 5.4, which shows how s depends on t b Draw a graph of s against t © Use your graph to find how far the stone will fall in 255, d_ Use your graph to find how long it will take the stone to fall to the bottom of a cliff 40m high. Check your answer using the equations of motion. SAQ 3.7. An egg falls off a table. The floor is 0.8m from the table-top. a How long will it take the egg to reach the floor? b How fast will it be moving when it hits the floor? Measuring One way to. WS the acceleration due to sravity g would be to try bungeejumping (igure 3.8). You would need to carry a stopwatch, and measure the time between jumping from the © Figure 3.8 A bungeejumper falls with initial eleration g. platform and the moment when the elastic rope begins to slow your fall. If you knew the length of the unstretched rope, you could calculate g. There are easier methods for finding g which can be used in the laboratory. We will look at three of these, and consider their relative merits. Method 1: Using an electronic timer In this method, a steel ball-bearing is held by an electromagnet (figure 29). When the current to the magnet is switched off, the ball begins to fall and an electronic timer starts. The ball falls through a trapdoor, and this breaks a circuit to stop the timer. So now we know the time taken for the ball to fall from rest through the distance h between the magnet and the trapdoor. Here is how we can use one of the equations of motion to find g: displacement time taker initial velocity u = 0 acceleration a= g Substituting in s = ut + Jat® gives: ist? ay and for any values of h and t we can calculate a value for g. ‘Amore satisfactory procedure is to take measurements of t for several different values of h, The height of the electromagnet above the trap- door is varied systematically, and the time of fall measured several times to calculate an average for cach height. Table 3.5 and figure 3.10 show some electromagnet, ball-bearing © Figure 39 The timer records the time for the ball to fall through the distance h.@ Figure 3.10 Deducing g from values off and . © Table 35 Data for figure 310. These are mean values. typical results. We can deduce g from the gradient of the graph: 2ah 8 aF x 0.76 m) Sources of uncertainty ‘The electromagnet may retain some magnetism when it is switched off, and this may tend to slow the ball’ fall. Consequently, the time t recorded by the timer may be longer than if the ball were to fall completely freely. From equation 1, it follows that if tis too great, the value of g will be too small. This is an example of a systematic error ~ all the results are systematically distorted so that they are too great (or too small) as a consequence of the experimental design. Measuring the height h is awkward. You can probably only find the value of h to within + 1mm at best. So there is a random error in the value of hh, and this will result in a slight scatter of the points on the graph, and a degree of uncertainty in the final value of g. For more about errors, see the appendix (page 189) Method 2: Using a ticker-timer Figure 3.11 shows a weight falling; as it falls, it pulls ‘tape through a tickertimer. The spacing of the Dynamics - explaining motion 29 © Figure 3.11 A falling weight pulls a tape through a tickertimer. dots on the tape increases steadily, showing that the ‘weight is accelerating, You can analyse the tape to find the acceleration, as discussed on pages 14-15. This is not a very satisfactory method of measuring g. The main problem arises from fric- tion between the tape and the ticker-timer. This slows the fall of the weight, and so its acceleration is less than g. (This is another example of a systematic error, ‘The effect of friction is less of a problem for a large weight, which falls more freely. If measure- ments are made for increasing weights, the value of acceleration gets closer and closer to the true value of g. Method 3: Using a light gate Figure 3.12 shows how a weight can be attached toa card ‘interrupt’. The card is designed to break the light beam twice as the weight falls. The computer can then calculate the velocity of the weight twice as it falls, and hence find its acceleration: @ Figure 3.12 Because the weight accelerates as it falls, the upper section of the card falls more ‘quickly through the light gate.30 Forces and motion ‘The weight can be dropped from different heights above the light gate. This allows you to find out whether its acceleration is the same at different points in its fall. This is an advantage over method 1, which can only measure the acceleration from a stationary start. Use (herded lo slimale vane ig Solution: 30 average speed of stone during fall= 35" =115ms" So final speed v = 2x 11.5ms" =230ms" initial speed u = Oms"' Using a — "=" gives, 230ms" 2 a=—So* =88ms 26s Note that the same result could have been arrived at more directly using s =u + Jaf?, but you may find it easier to follow what is going on using the method given here. We should briefly consider why the answer is less. than the expected value of g = 9.8ms~. It might be that the cliff was higher than the students’ estimate. The timer may not have been accurate in switching, the stopwatch on and off. There will have been ait resistance which slowed the stone's fall SAQ 3.8: A steel ball falls from rest through a height of 2.10, An electronic timer records a time of 0.67 s for the fall a Calculate the ball's average acceleration as it falls. b_ Suggest reasons why the answer is not exactly g=98ms*. © Table 3.6 For SAQ3.9. SAQ 3.9. In an experiment to determine the acceleration due to gravity, a ball was timed electronically as it fell from rest through a height h. The times t shown in table 5.6 were obtained @ Plot a graph of h against ’. b_ From the graph, deduce the acceleration due to gravity ¢ Comment on your answer. SAQ 3.10 On page 6, we looked at how to use a motion sensor to measure the speed and position of a moving object. Suggest how a motion sensor could be used to determine g. Mass and inertia It took a long time for scientists to develop correct ideas about forces and motion. We will start by thinking about some wrong ideas, and then consider why Galileo, Newton and others decided new ideas were needed. Observations and ideas Here are some observations to think about: m The large tree trunk shown in figure 3.13 is being dragged from the forest. The tractor provides @ Figure 3.13 A giant tractor provides the force needed to drag this tree from the forest.Dynamics - explaining motion 31 al the force needed to pull it along. If the tractor stops pulling, the tree trunk will stop moving. A horse is pulling a cart. If the horse stops pulling, the cart stops. You are riding a bicycle. If you stop pedalling, the bicycle will come to a halt. = You are driving along the road. You must keep your foot on the accelerator pedal, otherwise the car will not keep moving. ® You are playing bowls. You roll your wood across the green. It gradually comes to a halt. In each of these cases, there is a force which makes something move - the pull of the tractor or the horse, your push on the bicycle pedals, the force of the car engine, the push of your hand. Without the force, the moving object comes to a halt. So what conclusion might we draw? ‘Amoving object needs a force X tg keep it moving. This might seem a sensible conclusion to draw, but it is wrong. We have not thought about all the forces involved. The missing force is friction. In each example above, friction (or air resistance) makes the object slow down and stop when there is no force pushing or pulling it forwards. For exam- ple, if you stop pedalling your cycle, air resistance will slow you down. There is also friction at the axles of the wheels, and this too will slow you down. If you could lubricate your axles and cycle in a vacuum, you could travel along at a steady speed for ever, without pedalling! ‘The example of bowls is interesting. It takes a while for the wood to roll to a halt, because there is little friction between the wood and the grass. People imagined that the force of the thrower’s hand travelled along with the wood, gradually weakening, until the wood stopped. We no longer imagine that we can push a ball when we are not touching it Perpetual motion In the seventeenth century, astronomers began to use telescopes to observe the heavens. They saw that objects such as the planets could move freely through space. They weren't attached to crystal spheres, as had previously been suggested. They simply kept on moving, without anything providing a force to push them. Galileo came to the conclusion that this was the natural motion of objects: An object at rest will stay at rest, unless a force causes it to start moving. ‘A moving object will continue to move at a steady speed in a straight line, unless a force acts on it. So objects move with a constant velocity, unless a force acts on them. (Being stationary is simply a particular case of this, where the velocity is zero.) ‘Nowadays it is much easier to appreciate this law of motion, because we have more experience of objects moving with little or no friction ~ roller skates with low-friction bearings, ice skates, and spacecraft in empty space. In Galileo's day, people's everyday experience was of dragging things along the ground, or pulling things on carts with high-friction axles, So it was a great achievement when scientists were able to develop a picture of a world without friction. Galileo devised several experiments to illustrate his ideas. In one (figure 3.14) a ball rolls down a ramp, speeding up as it goes. It then runs up a second, hinged ramp. If there is no friction at all, it reaches the same height as it started from. Now the second ramp is lowered to a less steep angle. ‘The ball again reaches the same height as before, but now it has travelled further horizontally. ‘What happens if the ramp is lowered toa horizontal position? Galileo suggested that it will roll for ever, because it will not stop until it reaches the height from which it started. @ Figure 3.14 Galileo’s demonstration that a ball accelerates as it rolls down a ramp.32 Forces and motion @ Figure 3.15 Ice skaters move in a world of low friction. Their inertia keeps them moving in straight lines. Sometimes, it carries them right off the ice, The idea of inertia ‘The tendency of a moving object to carry on mov- ing is sometimes known as inertia = An object with a large mass is difficult to stop + moving - think about catching a cricket ball, compared with a tennis ball. = Similarly, a stationary object with a large mass is difficult to start moving - think about pushing a car to get it started. = And it is difficult to make a massive object change direction - think about the way a fully laden supermarket trolley tries to keep moving ina straight line. All of these examples suggest another way to think of an object’s mass; it is a measure of its inertia, how difficult it is to change the object's motion. Uniform motion is the natural state of motion of an object. Here, ‘uniform motion’ means ‘moving with constant velocity or moving, ata steady speed in a straight line’. Now we can summarise these findings as Newton's first law of motion: An object will remain at rest or in a state of uniform motion unless it is acted on by an external force. In fact, this is already contained in the simple equation we have been using to calculate accelera- tion, F= ma: if no force acts on an object (F = 0), it will not accelerate (a = 0), If we rewrite the equation as a = Fj m, we can see that, the greater the mass m, the smaller the acceleration a produced by a force F. $AQ 3.11. Use the idea of inertia to explain why large cars often have power-assisted brakes SAQ 3.12 A car crashes head-on into a brick wall Use the idea of inertia to explain why the driver is more likely to come out through the windscreen if he or she is not wearing a seat belt. Top speed ap see shown in figure 3.16 is capable of speeds as high as 760 mph, greater than the speed of sound. Its streamlined shape is designed to cut down air resistance, and its jet engines provide a strong forward force to accelerate it up to top speed. All vehicles have a top speed. But why can’t they go any faster? Why can’t a car driver keep pressing on the accelerator pedal, and simply go faster and faster? To answer this, we have to think about the two forces mentioned above: air resistance, and the forward thrust of the engine. The vehicle will accelerate so long as the thrust is greater than the air resistance. When the two forces are equal, they cancel each other out, and the vehicle moves ata steady speed. Balanced and unbalanced forces If an object has two or more forces acting on it, we have to consider whether or not they are balanced (figure 3.17). ‘¢ Figure 3.46 The Thrust SSC rocket car broke the ‘world land'speed record in 1997. It achieved a top speed of 763 mph (340 ms") over a distance of 1 mile (1.6 km),Dynamics - explaining motion 33 ‘Two equal forces acting in opposite directions cancel each | resultant force = 0 N- other out. We say they are balanced. The car will continue ‘to move at a steady speed in a straight line. 300N. 300N 300N. 400N| These two forces are unequal, so they do not cancel out, resultant force = 400N ~ 300N ———_ ‘They are unbalanced, The car will speed up (accelerate). | ~ 100N to right 300N. 200N | Again the forces are unbalanced. This time, the car will slow | resultant force = 200 ~ 300 down (decelerate), = =100N i.e, 100N to left © Figure 3.17 Balanced and unbalanced forces. We can calculate the resultant force by adding up two (or more) forces which act in the same straight line, We must take account of the direction of each force; in the examples above, forces to the right are positive and forces to the left are negative. ‘When a car travels slowly, it encounters little air resistance. However, the faster it goes, the more air it has to push out of the way each second, and so the greater the air resistance. Eventually the backward force of air resistance equals the forward thrust of the engine, and the forces on the car are balanced. It can go no faster - it has reached top speed. Free fall © Figure 3.18 A parachutist in Skydivers (figure 3.18) are rather like cars ~ at first, they accelerate free-fall - Jow air resistance, freely. Their weight gives them acceleration g. Then increasing air resistance opposes their fall, and their acceleration decreases. Eventually they reach top speed, known as terminal velocity, when air resistance equals their weight. This is approximately 120mph (about 50s"), but it depends on the diver's weight and orienta- tion. Head-first is fastest. ‘The idea of a parachute is to greatly increase the force of air resistance. Then terminal velocity is less, and the parachutist can land safely. Figure 3.19 shows how a parachutist’s velocity might change during descent. ‘Terminal velocity depends on how big you are. For insects, ait resistance is much more impor- tant than for a human being, and so their terminal velocity is low. Insects can be swept up several kilometres into the atmosphere by rising air streams. Later, they fall back to Earth uninjured. It is said that mice can survive a fall from a high building for the same reason. i34 Forces and motion © Figure 320 A racing cyclist adopts a posture which helps to reduce drag. Clothing, helmet and even the cycle itself are designed to allow them to 0 as fast as possible, Moving through fluids Air resistance is just one example of the resistive forces which objects experience when they move through a fluid - a liquid or a gas. If you have ever run down the beach and into the sea, or tried to wade quickly through the water of a swimming pool, you will have experienced the force of drag. ‘The deeper the water gets, the more it resists your movement and the harder you have to work to make progress through it. In deep water, it is easier to swim than to wade. ‘We rarely experience drag in air. This is because air is much less dense than water; its density is roughly oneeight hundredth that of water. At typ- ical walking or running speeds, we don’t notice the effects of drag. However, if you want to move faster, they can be important. Racing cyclists, like the one shown in figure 3.20, wear tight-fitting Clothing and streamlined helmets. Some are even said to shave their legs so that they cause less disturbance to the air as they move through it. ‘© Figure 3.21 This FastCraft passenger ferry has a double-hull catamaran-type construction. At speed, it rises up out of the water so that there is less surface in contact with the water to create drag, For smalll creatures, such as tiny insects, air resistance is much more important. For an insect like an aphid (a greenfly), flying through the air is hard work, much like wading through water is for us. This is because an aphid is very light and has a large surface area compared to its volume. The advantage is that, if the aphid should fall towards the ground, its speed never exceeds a few milli- metres per second, so it is unlikely to be damaged when it lands. Compare this to what happens if a human falls from a high building ~ air resistance does little to reduce their speed of impact. ‘The drag of water is a problem for ship- designers. They try to ensure that ships can slip easily through the water by designing streamlined shapes with smooth surfaces. Many modern pas- senger ferries, such as those used on crosschannel routes, rise up in the water when travelling at speed, to minimise the area in contact with the water and hence to reduce drag (figure 3.21). You can observe the effect of drag on a falling object if you drop a key or a coin into the deep end of a swimming pool. For the first few centi- metres, it speeds up, but for the remainder of its fall, it has a steady speed. (If it fell through the same distance in air, it would accelerate all the way.) The drag of water means that the falling object reaches its terminal velocity very soon after it is released. Compare this with a free-fall para- chutist who has to fall hundreds of metres before reaching terminal velocity. 200N —, 300N © Figure 3.22 Worked example 1: the forces on an accelerating car.Dynamics explaining motion 35, ee We will start by drawing a diagram of the car, show- ing the forces mentioned in the question (igure 5.22) Calculate the resultant force on the car; forces to the right are positive resultant force = 300N - 200N = 100N Now use F = ma to calculate the car's acceleration: 100N _ 2 im 500k 025 So the car's acceleration is 0.2ms* 2 Acar's engine can provide a maximum forward force of 500N. The air resistance F which the car experiences depends on its speed according to F= 0.2%, where v is the speed in ms '. What is the car's top speed? From the equation F = 0.2”, you can see that the air resistance increases as the car goes faster. Top speed is reached when the forward force of the engine equals the air resistance. So, at top speed: 500N = 0.27 Rearranging gives 2 500 2500 v=50ms So the car's top speed is 50 ms“! (180 knvb). ——— SAQ 3.13. If you drop a large stone and a small stone from the top of a tall building, which one will reach the ground first? Explain your answer. SAQ 3.14 Ina race, downhill skiers want to travel as quickly as possible. They are always looking for ways to increase their top speed. Explain how they might do this. Think about a. their skis; b their clothing; € their muscles; d the slope SAQ 3.15 Skydivers jump from a plane at intervals of a few seconds. If two divers wish to join up as they fall, the second must catch up with the first a fone diver is heavier than the other, which should jump first? Explain your answer, using the idea of terminal velocity b If both divers are equally heavy, suggest what the second might do to catch up with the first. Force, mass and acceleration are related by F= ma, This is a form of Newton's second law of motion, @ The acceleration produced by a force is in the same direction as the force. Where there are two or more forces, we must ‘work out the resultant force. @ A newton (N) is the force required to give a mass of 1 kg an acceleration of 1ms™. © ‘The greater the mass of an object, the ‘more it resists changes in its motion. Mass is a measure of the object's inertia. © The weight of an object is a result of the pull of gravity on it: weight = mass x gravitational field strength ‘© An object falling freely under gravity has a constant acceleration provided the gravita- tional field strength is constant. However, " fluid resistance (such as air resistance) reduces its acceleration. Terminal velocity. is reached when the fluid resistance equals the object's weight.36 Forces and motiona ais Working with vectors Salil 1 use a vector triangle to determine the resultant of two coplanar vectors; 2 calculate the resultant of two perpendicular vectors; 3 resolve a vector into two perpendicular components; 4 understand the independent nature of perpendicular components of a vector; 5 explain motion due to a uniform velocity in one direction and a uniform acceleration in a perpendicular direction. Magnitude and direction In chapter 1, we discussed the distinction between distance and displacement: ® Distance has magnitude sie) only: it sa scalar quantity. w Displacement has both magnitude and direction: it isa vector quantiy You should recall that a scalar quantity has mag- nitude only, a vector quantity has both magnitude and direction. We also looked at another example of a scalar|vector pair: speed and velocity. To define the velocity of a moving object, you have to say how fast it is moving, and the direction it is moving in. Here are some more examples of scalar and vector quantities; vector quantities are usually repre sented by arrows on diagrams. a Scalar quantities: distance, speed, mass, energy, enpeatare = Vector quantities: displace- ment, velocity, acceleration, force, weight. Combining displacements “The walkers shown in figure 4.1 are crossing difficult ground. They Jandmarl navigate from one prominent point to the next, travelling in a series of straight lines, From the map, they can work out the distance that they travel, and their displacement from their starting point. distance travelled = 25 km (Lay thread along route on map; measure thread against map scale.) displacement = 15km north-east (join starting and finishing points with straight line; measure line against scale) © Figure 41 In rough terrain, walkers head straight for a prominent88 Forces and motion ‘A.map is a scale drawing. You-can find your dis- placement by measuring the map. But how can. you calculate your displacement? You need to use ideas from geometry and trigonometry. The ‘worked examples show how. Worked examples ‘© Figure 4.2 The spider runs a distance of 2.0m, but ‘what is its displacement? Because the two ‘legs’ of the spider’s run (OA and AB) are at right angles, we can add the two displacements using Pythagoras’ theorem: OB? = OA? + AB? (0.8m)? + (1.2m? = 208m? OB = (2.08m?) = 144m Now we must give the direction of this displacement. The angle @ is given by: opp _ 0.8m adj 12m 0667 0 = tan"! 0.667 337° So the spiders displacement is 144m at an angle of 33.7° north of east. tan 0= ‘© Figure 43 What is the aircraft's final displacement? Here, the two displacements are not at 90° to one another, so we can't use Pythagoras’ theorem. We can solve this problem by making a scale drawing, and measuring the final displacement. (This is often an adequate technique. However, you could solve the same problem using trigonometry) Step 1 Choose a suilable scale. Your diagram should be reasonably large; in this case, a scale of 1 cm to represent 5 km is reasonable Step 2. Draw a line to represent the first vector. North is at the top of the page. The line is 6cm long, towards the east (right) Step 3. Draw a line to represent the second vector, starting at the end of the first vector. The line is 10cm long, and at an angle of 45° (figure 4.4). Step 4. To find the final displacement, join start to finish. You have created a vector triangle. Measure this displacement vector, and use the scale to convert back to kilometres; length of vector = 14.8. cm final displacement = 148 x 5km = 74 km MESEME NCEE alias © Figure 44 Scale drawing for worked example 2. Using graph paper can help you to show the vectors in the correct directions.Working with vectors 39 re) ‘Step 5. Measure the angle of the final displacement vector: angle = 28° N of E So the aircraft's final displacement is 74 km at 28° N of E. —_—_—_$_—$—$—————————————————— $AQ 4,9 —____————— You walk 5km due north, and then 4km due east. ‘a What is the total distance you have travelled? b_ Make a scale drawing of your walk, and use it to find your final dis- placement. Remember to give both the distance and the direction. © Check your answer to part b by calculating your displacement. Combining forces ‘There are ing ft forces acting on the car (figure 4.5) as it struggles up the steep hill. They are: fm its weight W (= mg); = the contact force of the road (its normal reaction) N; m air resistance R; = the forward force caused by the engine F. If we knew the magnitude and direction of each of these forces, we could work out their combined effect on the car. Will it accelerate up the hill? Or will it slide backwards down the hill? ‘The combined effect of several forces is known as the resultant force. To see how to work out the resultant of two or more forces, we will start with a relatively simple example. Two forces in a straight line ‘We have seen some examples earlier of two forces acting in a straight line. For example, a falling tennis ball may be acted on by two forces: its weight mg, downwards, and air resistance R, upwards (figure 4.6). The resultant force is then: resultant force = mg-R=1N~-0.2N=0.8N When adding two or more forces which act in a straight line, we have to take account of their directions. A force may be positive or negative; we adopt a sign convention to help us decide which is which. Here are two commonly used sign conventions: = upwards forces are positive, downward forces are negative; m= forces to the right are positive, forces to the left are negative. If you apply a sign convention correctly, the sign of your final answer will tell you the direction of the resultant force. Two forces at right angles Figure 4.7 shows a shuttlecock falling on a windy day. There are two forces acting on the shuttlecock: gravity vertically downwards, and the horizontal push of the wind. (It helps if you draw the force arrows of different lengths, to show which force is greater.) We must add these two forces together to find the resultant force acting on the shuttlecock. We add the forces by drawing ‘two arrows, end-to-end, as shown ‘ Figure 45 Four forces act on this car as it moves uphill. mg=1N @ Figure 46 Two forces on a falling tennis ball. wee hy i 6N 8N @ Figure 47 Two forces act on this shuttlecock as it travels through the air; the triangle shows how to find the resultant force.40 Forces and motion oo on the right of the figure.» a= First, a horizontal arrow is drawn to represent the 6N push of the wind. = Next, starting from the end of this arrow, we draw a second arrow, downwards, representing, the 8N force of gravity. = Now we draw a line from the start of the first arrow to the end of the second arrow: this arrow represents the resultant force R, both in magnitude and direction. (The arrows are added by drawing them end-to- end; the end of the first arrow is the start of the second arrow. Compare this with the way in which the two displacements of the aircraft in {figure 44 were added together.) Now we can find the resultant force either by scale drawing, or by calculation. In this case, we have a 3-45 right-angled triangle, so calculation is simple: 100N? (6N)? + (8N)’ = 36N? + 64N? ON @=tan' $= 53.1° So the resultant force is 10N, at an angle of 53.1° below the horizontal. This is a reasonable answer; gravity is pulling the shuttlecock downwards and the wind is pushing it to the right; the angle is greater than 45° because the downward force is greater than the horizontal force. Three or more forces ‘The spider shown in figure 4.8 is hanging by a thread. It is blown sideways by the wind. The diagram shows the three forces acting on it: tension in push of wind thread ay lweight pushofwind i tension ‘weight ¢ Figure 48 Blowing in the wind ~ this spider is hanging in equilibrium. = weight, downwards; = the tension in the thread, along the thread; i= the push of the wind. ‘The diagram also shows how these can be added together. In this case, we arrive at an interesting result. Arrows are drawn to represent each of the three forces, end-to-end. The end of the third arrow coincides with the start of the first arrow, so the three arrows form a closed triangle, This tells us that the resultant force R on the spider is zero, that is R= 0. So there is no resultant force. The forces on the spider balance each other out, and we say that the spider is in equilibrium. If the wind blew a little harder, there would be an unbalanced force on the spider, and it would move off to the right, We can use this idea in two ways: = If we work out the resultant force on an object, and find that it is zero, this tells us that the object is in equilibrium. m= If we know that an object is in equilibrium, we know that the forces on it must add up to zero; ‘we can use this to work out the values of one or more unknown forces. Vector addition ‘The process of adding up forces by drawing arrows end-to-end is an example of vector addition. We can use the same technique for adding up any other vector quantities - displacements, for exam- ple, as we saw on page 38. Adding two forces together gives a vector triangle, like the one in figure 4.7. Adding more than two forces gives a vector polygon, like the ‘one in figure 4.9. Remember: the vectors are always © Figure 49 Adding four vectors gives a vector polygon. Note that the resultant is the same, no ‘matter what order we add the forces in.drawn end-to-end, so that the end of one is the starting point of the next; the resultant is found by joining the starting point of the first vector to the end of the last one. SAQ 4.2, ‘A parachutist weighs 1000. When she opens her parachute, it pulls upwards on her with a force of 2000N. a Draw a diagram to show the forces acting on the parachutist b Calculate the resultant force acting on her. ‘© What effect will this force have on her? SAQ 43 ‘The ship shown in figure 4.10 is travelling at a steady speed. Is the ship in equilibrium? How do you know? b Whats the upthrust LU of the water? © What is the drag D of the water? Figure 4.10 For SAQ 43. The force D is the frictional drag of the water on the boat. Like air resistance, drag is always in the opposite direction, to the object’s motion, SAQ 4.4. Aslone is dropped into a fast-flowing stream. It does not fall vertically, because of the sideways push of the water (figure 4.17) a Calculate the resultant force on the stone. b Is the stone in equilibrium? ‘weight W=2.5N @ Figure 4.11 For SAQ 45. Working with vectors 41 a Components of vectors Look back to figure 48 (page 40). The spider is in equilibrium, even though three forces are acting on it. We can think of the tension in the thread as having two effects: w= it is pulling upwards, to counteract the down- ward effect of gravity; w= itis pulling to the left, to counteract the effect of the wind. ‘We can say that this force has two effects or components: an upwards (vertical) component and a sideways (horizontal) component. It is often useful to break down a vector quantity into components like this. ‘The components are in two directions at right angles to each other, often horizontal and vertical. ‘The process is called resolving the vector. Then we can think about the effects of each component separately: we say that the perpendicular ‘components are independent of one another. Because the two components are at 90° to each, other, a change in one will have no effect on the other. Figure 4.12 shows how to resolve a force F into its horizontal and vertical components. These are: horizontal component of F = Fy = F cos A vertical component of F = Fy =F sin A ‘To find the component of a vector in a particular direction: Step 1, Find the angle between the vector and the direction of interest: angle =A Step 2. Multiply the vector by the cosine of the angle: component = F cos A @ Figure 4.12 Resolving a vector into two components at right angles.42 Forces and motion 6ms? @ Figure 4.13 The vectors for SAQ 45. SAQ4.5 Find the x and y components of each of the vectors shown in figure 4.15. (You will need to use a protractor to measure angles from the diagram) @ Figure 4.14 These students are investigating the acceleration ofa trolley down a sloping ramp. Making use of components When the trolley shown in figure 4.4 is released, it accelerates down the ramp. The force which makes it accelerate, the trolley’s weight, is the result of gravity. Of course, gravity acts vertically downwards. However, it does have a component which acts down the slope. By calculating the component of the trolley’s weight down the slope, we can work out its acceleration. Figure 4.15 shows the forces acting on the trolley. To simplify the situation, we will assume ‘© Figure 4.15 A force diagram for a trolley on a ramp,there is no friction. The forces are: = W, the trolley's weight, acting vertically down- wards; m= R, the contact force of the ramp, at right angles to the ramp. You can see at once from the diagram that the forces cannot be balanced, since they do not act in the same straight line. ‘To find the component of W down the slope, we need to know the angle between W and the slope. ‘The slope makes an angle @ with the horizontal, and from the diagram we can see.that the angle of interest is (90° ~ 6). Using the rule for calculat- ing the component of a vector given on page 40, wwe have: component of W down slope = W cos (90° - 8) =Wsind (Recall that cos (90° ~ 6) = sin 6; you can see this from figure 4.15.) Does the contact force R help to accelerate the trolley down the ramp? To answer this, we must calculate its component down the slope. The angle between R and the slope is 90°. So: component of R down slope = R cos 90° = 0 ‘The cosine of 90° is zero, and so R has no component down the slope. This shows why it is useful to think in terms of the components of forces; we don’t know the value of R, but, since it has no effect down the slope, we can ignore it. (There's no surprise about this result. The trol- ley runs down the slope because of gravity, not because it is pushed by the contact force R) Changing the slope If the students in figure 4.14 increase the slope of their ramp, the trolley will move down the ramp with greater acceleration. They have increased 6, and so the component of W down the slope will have increased. ‘Now we can work out the trolley’s acceleration. If the trolley’s mass is m, its weight is mg. So the force F making it accelerate is: F=mg sin Since from Newton’s second law we have a= F / m, the trolley’s acceleration a is given by: Working with vectors 43 In fact, we could have arrived at this result simply by saying that the trolley’s acceleration would be the component of g down the slope. The steeper the slope, the greater the value of sin 6, and hence the greater the trolley’s acceleration. Roe The person in figure 4.16 is pulling a large box using, a rope. Use the idea of components of a force to explain why they are more likely to get the box to move if the rope is horizontal (as in a) than if it is sloping upwards (as in b). SAQ 4,7. You are sliding down a slope on a toboggan. Your weight (with the toboggan) is SOON. The stope makes an angle of 30” with the horizontal. a. Draw a diagram to show the situation. Include arrows to represent the forces which act on you: your weight, and the contact force of the slope. Calculate the component of your weight down the slope © Explain why the contact force of the slope has no component down the slope. d. What third force might act to slow down your motion? In which direction would it act? Figure 4.16 Why is it easier to move the box with the rope horizontal? See SAQ 4.6.4 Forces and motion Solving problems by resolving forces A force can be resolved into two components at right angles to each other; these can then be treated independently of one another. This idea can be used to solve problems, as illustrated in the worked example. Worked example ¢ Figure 4.17 For the worked example Step 1. Ibis often helpful to draw a diagram showing all the forces acting (figure 4.17). The forces are: the girl's weight W = 40kg x 98Nkg"! = 392N the frictional force up the slope F = 120N the contact force C at 90° to the slope Step 2. We are trying to find the resultant force on the girl which makes her accelerate down the slope. We resolve the forces down the slope, ie. we find their components in that direction. component of HW’ down slope = 392N x cos 60° = 196N ‘component of F down slope = -120N (negative because Fis directed up the slope) ‘component of C down slope = 0 (because itis at 90° to the slope) Its convenient that C has no component down the slope, since we do not know the value of C. Step 3. Calculate the resultant force on the girl resullant force = 196N ~ 120N = 76N Step 4. Calculate her acceleration resultant force mass 76N =2 = 19ms? 0kg acceleration = So the gitt’s acceleration down the slope is 1.9m: We could have arrived at the same result by resolving vertically and horizontally, but that would have led to ‘two simultaneous equations from which we would have had to eliminate the unknown force C. It often helps to resolve forces at 90° to an unknown force. SAQ 4.8 A horse pulls a barge of mass 5000 kg along a canal Using a rope 10m long, The rope is allached to a point on the barge 2m from the bank. As the barge starts to move, the tension in the rope is 500N. Calculate the barge’ initial acceleration parallel to the bank. Projectiles ‘The ects of figure 4.18 is from a medieval manual. Soldiers were unsure of the paths their artillery shells followed through the air. They imagined that a cannon ball followed an almost straight path until it ran out of force, and then it dropped to the ground. ‘This wasn’t such a silly idea, It’s difficult to fol- Jow the path of a cannon ball or a bullet. The paths shown in the drawing are similar to the way a shuttlecock or a ball of crumpled paper moves. Air resistance is important for a shuttlecock, much more than for a bullet. If we ignore air resistance, the force which determines the path of a moving ball or bullet is its weight. An object which is given an initial push, and which then moves freely through the air, is called ‘a projectile. We will first consider the simple case © Figure 4.18 This medieval illustration from 1561 shows how soldiers thought their cannon balls travelled through the air.Working with vectors 45 al aa OR @ Figure 4.19 Standing at the edge of the cliff, you throw a stone vertically upwards. of a projectile thrown straight up in the air, so that it moves vertically. Then we will look at projectiles which move horizontally and vertically at the same time. Up and down ‘Astone is thrown upwards with an initial velocity of 20ms°, For simplicity, we will take g= 10ms*. Figure 4.19 shows the situation. Itis important to use a consistent sign conven- tion here. We will take upwards as positive, down- wards as negative. So the stone's initial velocity is positive, but its acceleration g is negative. We can solve various problems simply using the equations of motion which we studied in chapter 2. How high? How high will the stone rise above ground level? ‘As ‘the stone rises upwards, it moves more and more slowly ~ it decelerates, because of the force of gravity. At its highest point, the stone’s velocity is zero. So the quantities we know are: initial velocity = u= 20ms* final velocity =v =Oms™ acceleration = a=-10ms” displacement =s =? ‘The relevant equation of motion is v*= u*+ 2as, and substituting values gives: 0? = 207 + 2x (-10) xs 0 = 400 - 205 400 s = 39 720m ‘The stone rises 20m upwards, before it starts to fall again. (Note that we have not included units in the equations, to make the maths clearer. We mustn't forget to include them in the final answer) How tong? How long will it take from leaving your hand for the stone to fall back to the clifftop? ‘When the stone returns to the point from which it was thrown, its displacement sis zero. So: toms? t=? s=0 u=20mst a Substituting in s = ut + at” gives: = 20t+ } x (-10) x? = 20t - St*= (20 - 5t)xt ‘There are two possible solutions to this: m= =05, ie. the stone had zero displacement at the instant it was thrown; um f= 45, ie. the stone returned to zero displace ment after 4s, which is the answer we are interested in. Falling further How long will it take the stone to reach the foot of the cliff? ‘This is similar to the last example, but now the stone's final displacement is 25m below its starting point. By our sign convention, this is a negative displacement, and s = -25m. SAQ 4.9. Calculate the time it will take for the stone to reach the foot of the cliff. A curved trajectory A multiflash photograph can reveal details of the path, or trajectory, of a projectile, Figure 4.20 (page 46) shows the trajectories of two projectiles. a This ball has been fired vertically upwards. As it rises, it gradually slows down, so that the gaps ‘between the images shrink. As it falls again, it accelerates, and the gaps get bigger. b This ball has been fired at an angle to the hori- zontal. As with a, the ball rises more and more 1 slowly, and then starts to fall. At the same time, it moves steadily to the right. You can see this from the even spacing of the images across the picture. The ball’s path has a mathematical shape known as a parabola.46 Forces and motion ° = The horizontal distance increases steadily. This is because the ball’s horizontal motion is unaffected by gravity. It travels at a steady speed horizontally. = The vertical distances don’t show the same pattern. The ball © Figure 4.20 The trajectories of two balls are shown in this image based on a multiflash photograph. ‘We interpret these pictures as follows. The verti- cal motion of the ball is affected by gravity. It has a vertical acceleration g, which slows it down as it rises, and speeds it iup as it falls. The ball’s horizontal motion is unaffected by gravity. In the absence of air resistance, the ball has a constant horizontal component of velocity. We can treat the ball’s vertical and horizontal motions sepa- rately, because they are independent of one another. ‘We can use these ideas to calculate details of a projectile's trajectory. Here’s an example to illustrate these ideas. In a toy, a ball-bearing is fired horizontally from a point 0.4m above the ground. Its initial velocity is 2.5ms"" Its position at equal intervals of time have been calculated and are shown in table 4.1 ‘These results are also shown in figure 4.21. Study the table and the graph. You should notice: ‘© Figure 421 This graph shows the movement of the ball projected ‘horizontally. The arrows represent the horizontal and vertical ‘components of its velocity. - is accelerating downwards. (These figures have been e calculated using g = 9.8ms™) Worked example Step 1. Split the balls i and vertical components: initial velocity =u = 20ms~ horizontal component of initial velocity =u cos 20m") x cos 30° ial velocity into horizontal example. © Table 4.1 Data for the toy example, as shown in figure 421.vertical component of initial velocity =u sin @ (20ms"!) x sin 30° 10ms* Step 2. Consider the balt’s vertical motion. How long will it take to return to the ground? In other words, when will its displacement return to zero? u=10ms" a=-10ms* t= Using s = ut + } at®, we have 0 = 10t ~ 5, and 1 =05 or =2s.So the ball is in the air for 2s. Step 3. Consider the ball's horizontal motion. How far will it travel horizontally in the 2 before il lands? This is simple to calculate, since it moves with a con stant horizontal velocity of 123ms"' horizontal displacement s = 173 ms"! x 2s 4.6m Hence the horizontal distance travelled by the ball {its Fange) is 34.6 m. —_—_—_—_—_——_—_— SAQ 4,10 —__ The range of a projectile is the horizontal distance it travels before it reaches the ground. The greatest range is achieved if the projectile is thrown at 45° to the horizontal A ball is thrown with an initial velocity of 40 ms! Calculate ils greatest possible range. @ Vectors are quantities that must have a direction associated with them. @ Vectors can be added if direction is taken into account. Methods for adding vectors include using trigonometry, and scale drawing. @ Vectors can be resolved into components. Components at right angles to one another can be treated independently of one another. Working with vectors 47 ER For projectiles, the horizontal and vertical components of velocity can be treated independently. In the absence of air resistance, the horizontal component of velocity is constant while the vertical ‘component of velocity downwards increases at a rate of 9.8 ms”. OS 1 List four scalar quantities and four vector quantities 2 Adog runs 100m in a straight line. It then changes direction and runs for 80m, again ina straight line. a What is the least distance it could be from its starting point? b Ifthe second leg of its run is at 90° to the first leg, what is the dog’s final displacement relative to its starting point? 3. Displacement is the vector measurement of distance. A certain grandfather clock keeps perfect time and has a minute hand that is 20cm long. a What is the vector displacement of the tip of the hand from quarter past the hour to half past the hour? b What distance has the tip moved in this time? ¢ Draw vector diagrams to scale to show the vertical and horizontal compo- nents of the velocity of the tip of the hand at quarter past, twenty past, twenty-five past and half past the hour. 4 Achild slides down a frictionless water- flume. The flume slopes down at 25° to the horizontal. Calculate the child's acceleration down the slope. (Take sms)48 Forces and motion 5. You step off the edge of a 45m high cliff. a How long will it take you to fall to the foot of the cliff? b Ifyou jump upwards with an initial velocity of 5ms™, how long will it be before you reach the foot of the cliff? (For simplicity, take g = 10m” in this question.) 6 A ball is fired upwards with an initial velocity of 30m”. Table 4.2 shows how the ball’s velocity changes. (Take ¢=9.8ms) Velocity (ms) 30 202 [Time (9) oT on eae © Table 42 For question 6, a Copy and complete the table. b Draw a graph to represent the data in the table. ¢ Use your graph to deduce how long the ball took to reach its highest point, Use v= u + at to check your answer to ¢. A tennis player hits a tennis ball horizon- tally with a velocity of 56ms"' when it is at a height of 2.5m above the ground (figure 4.23), a. Find the horizontal distance the ball will travel before hitting the ground. (ignore air resistance.) b If it were conceivable to play the same tennis stroke, with the same velocity of ball, on a flat surface on the Moon, how far horizontally would the ball then go without hitting the ground? (The acceleration due to gravity on the Moon is 1.6 ms” © Figure 423 Top- Class tennis players can make a ball travel very fast indeed. But what would Wimbledon be like if matches were held on the Moon (question 77?aa ee) Forces, moments and pressure By the end of this chapter you should be able to: 1 identify the forces acting on objects in simple situations; 2 understand that the weight of a body may be taken as acting at a single point known as its centre of gra 3 understand a couple as a pair of equal, parallel forces tending to produce rotation only; 4 define and use the moment of a force and the torque of a couple; 5 show an understanding that, when there is no resultant force and no resultant torque, a system is in equilibrium; 6 apply the principle of moments to solve problems involving forces acting in two dimensions; 7 define pressure; Some important forces From the day we are born (if not before), we learn to live with the forces which act upon us ~ our weight, friction, the push of the wind, and so on. We don’t have to make any calcula- tions to know when the forces acting on us are likely to make us fall over. ‘The Chinese acrobats in figure 5.1 are expert at keeping forces balanced Itis important to be able to identify the forces which act on an object. When we know what forces are acting, ) ‘we can predict how it will move. Figure 5.2 shows some important forces, how they arise, and how we represent ¢ Figure 5:1 This Chinese Circus performs an amazing feat of ‘them in diagrams. balance, with 15 women riding on a single bicycle.50 Forces and motion pushing (or pulling) the object. ‘The engine of a car provides a force to push backwards on the forward | Pad. Frictional forces from the road on the tyre (see page 67) push on | Push the car forwards. car, backward push on road Diagram Force’ Important situations Pushes and pulls. You can make an object accelerate by * pushing and pulling push pull _ | pushing or pulling it. Your force is shown by an arrow lifting + force of car engine + attraction and repulsion by magnets and by electric charges ‘Weight. This is the force of gravity acting on the object, Its usually shown by an arrow pointing vertically downwards from the object’s centre of gravity. any object in a gravitational field «less on the Moon Friction. ‘This is the force which arises when two surfaces rub over one another. Ifan object is sliding along the _ground, friction acts in the opposite ditection to its motion. [fan object is stationary, but tending to slide ~ perhaps because itis on a slope ~ the force of friction acts up the slope to stop it from sliding down. Friction always acts along a surface, never at an angle to it ' pulling an object along the ground + vehicles cornering or skidding « sliding down a slope Drag. ‘This force is similar to friction. When an object moves, ‘through air, there is friction between it and the air. Also, the object has to push aside the air as it moves along. Together, these effects make up drag. Similarly, when an object moves through a liquid, it experiences a drag force. Drag acts to oppose the motion of an object: it acts in the ‘opposite direction to the object's velocity. It can be reduced by giving the object a streamlined shape. * vehicles moving «aircraft flying '* parachuting + objects falling through air or water «ships sailing Upthrust. Any object placed in a fluid such as water or air experiences an upwards force. This is what makes it possible for something to float in water, Upthrust arises from the pressure which a fluid exerts on an object. The deeper you go, the greater the pressure. So there is more pressure on the lower surface of an object than on the upper surface, and this tends to push it upwards. Ifthe upthrust is greater than the object's weight, it will float up to the surface. « boats and icebergs floating « people swimming « divers surfacing # ahot air balloon rising Contact force. When you stand on the floor or sit on a chair, there is usually a force which pushes up against your weight, and which supports you so that you do not fall down. The ‘contact force is sometimes known as the normal reaction of the ‘lor or chair: (In this context, normal means ‘perpendicular’) ‘The contact force always acts at right angles to the surface which produces it, The floor pushes straight upwards; ifyou lean against a wall, it pushes back against you horizontally ‘standing on the ground| + one object sitting on top of another + leaning against a wall «one object bouncing off another ‘Tension. This is the force in a rope or string when it is stretched. If you pull on the endls of a string, it tends to stretch, ‘The tension in the string pulls back against you. It tries to shorten the string, ‘Tension can also act in springs. Ifyou stretch a spring, the tension pulls back to try to shorten the spring. If you squash (compress) the spring, the tension acts to expand the spring. « pulling with a rope # squashing or stretching aspring @ Figure 52 Some important forces.Forces, moments and pressure 51 a lift dra thrust weight ¢ Figure 5.3. An aircraft in flight; b the four forces which act on it~ these have turning effects (nioments} which also must be considered, Two or more forces Itis important to be able to identify the forces which are acting on an object if we are going to predict how it will move. Often, two or more forces are acting, and we have to think clearly about what they are. Figure 53a shows an aircraft travelling at top speed through the air. Figure 5.3b shows the four forces acting on it: m its weight, downwards, and the lift force on its wings, upwards; = the thrust of its engines, forwards, and air resistance, backwards. ‘We look at more complex situations in chapter 7. Centre of gravity We have weight because of the force of gravity on us. Each part of our bodies ~ arms, legs, head etc. ~ experiences a force, caused by gravity. However, it is much simpler to picture the overall effect of gravity as acting at a single point. This is our centre of gravity. For a person standing upright, it is roughly in the middle of the body, behind the naval. For a sphere, it is at the centre. It is much easier to solve problems if we simply indicate an object’s weight by a single force acting at the centre of gravity, rather than a large number of forces acting on each part of the object. Figure 5.4 illustrates this point. The athlete performs a complicated manoeuvre. However, we can see that her centre of gravity follows a smooth, parabolic path through the air, just like the paths of projectiles we discussed in chapter 4. SAQ 5.1. Name these forces: a. the upward push of water on a submerged object; the force which wears away two surfaces as they move over one another; the force which pulled the apple off Isaac Newton's tree; the force which stops you falling through the floor; € the force in the creeper as Tarzan swings from tree to tree; £ the force which makes it difficult to run through shallow water. SAQ 5.2. Draw a diagram to show the forces which act on a car as it travels along a level road at top speed. ‘© Figure 5.4 The dots indicate the athlete's centre of gravity, which follows a smooth trajectory through the air. With her body curved like this, the athlete's centre of gravity is actually outside her body, just below the small of her back. At no time is the whole of her body above the bar.52 Forces and motion SAQ 5.3 Imagine throwing a shuttlecock straight up in the air Air resistance is important for shuttlecocks, more important than for a tennis ball. Air resistance always acts in the opposite direction to the velocity of an object. Draw diagrams to show the forces (weight and air resistance) acting on the shuttlecock a_as it moves upwards; b as it falls back downwards. The turning effect of forces Forces can make things accelerate. They can do something else as well: they can make an object turn round, We say that they can have a turning effect. The lock gate shown in figure 5.5 starts to turn on its pivot when the operator pushes against the arm of the gate. This arm is made of a long piece of wood. It must be long so that the pushing force has a large turning effect. To maximise the effect, the opera- tor pushes close to the end of the arm, as far as possible from the pivot (the fixed point at which the arm is hinged). Moment of a force ‘The quantity which tells us about the turning effect of a force is its moment. The moment of a force depends on two things: = the magnitude of the force (the bigger the force, the greater its moment); m the perpendicular distance of the force from the pivot (the further the force acts from the pivot, the greater its moment) ‘The moment of a force = force x perpendicular distance of the pivot from the line of action of the force. © Figure 55 To open the canal lock gate, you have to push hard on the long wooden arm. You are pushing against the weight of the water behind the gate, © Figure 5.6 The quantities involved in calculating the moment of a force. Figure 5.6a shows these quantities. The force F, is pushing down on the lever, at a perpendicular distance x; from the pivot. The moment of F, about the pivot is then given by: moment = force x distance from pivot = Fy x x ‘The unit of moment is simply the newton-metre (Nm). This is a unit which does not have a special name. Figure 5.6b shows a slightly more complicated situation, fF is pushing at an angle @ to the lever, rather than at 90°. This makes it have less turning effect. There are two ways to calculate the moment of the force: ‘Method 1 Draw a perpendicular line from the pivot to the line of the force. Find the distance xz. Calculate the moment, F: x x2. From the rightangled triangle, we can see that x2, = sin 6, so: moment of force = F, xd sin @ Method 2 Calculate the component of F which is pushing at 90° to the lever. This is F, sin 8. Multiply this by d. We get the same result as method 1 moment of force = F, xd sin @ Note that any force which passes through the pivot has no turning effect, because the distance from the pivot to the line of the force is zero. Balanced or unbalanced? We can use the idea of the moment of a force to solve two sorts of problem: im We can check whether an object will remain balanced or start to rotate= We can calculate an unknown force or distance if we know that an object is balanced. ‘We are making use of the principle of moments which states that: For any object that is in equilibrium: (balanced), the sum of the clockwise moments about any point provided by the forces acting on the object equals the sum of the anticlock- ‘wise moments about that point. ‘¢ Figure 5.7 Will these forces make the seesaw rolate, of are their moments balanced? See worked example 1 1 Is the sees will it start to rotate? 3 The see-saw will remain balanced, because the 20N force is twice as far from the pivot as the 40N force. Here is how we prove this: We need to think about each force individually Which direction is each force trying to turn the see- saw, clockwise or anticlockwise? The 20N force is tending to tur the see-saw anticlockwise, while the 40N force is tending to turn it clockwise. Step 1. moment of anticlockwise force = 20N x 2m =40Nm Step 2. moment of anticlockwise force = 40N x 1m 40Nm Step 3. We can see that: clockwise moment = anticlockwise moment So the see-saw is balanced. The unknown force X is tending to turn the beam anticlockwise, The other two forces (10N and 20N) are tending to lurn the beam clockwise. We will start by calculating their moments and adding them together. Forces, moments and pressure 53 Ny AEG @ Figure 5.8 For worked example 2. Step 1 moment of clockwise forces = (ION x 1m) + (20N x 0.5m) =10Nm + 10Nm=20Nm Step 2 moment of anticlockwise force =X x 0.8m ‘Step 3. Since we know that the beam must be balanced, we can say: clockwise moment = anticlockwise moment Xx 08m=20Nm So a force of 25N at a distance of 0.8m from the pivot will keep the beam balanced. — SAG) 6a 300) iors oun be a es ‘A wheelbarrow is loaded as shown in figure 5.9. Calculate the force that the gardener needs to exert to hold the legs off the ground b_ What force is exerted by the ground on the legs of the wheelbarrow (taken both together) when the gardener is not holding the handles? Figure 5.9 For SAQ 5.4.54 Forces and motion @ Figure 5.10 For SAQ55. SAQ5.5 ‘An old-fashioned pair of scales uses sliding masses of 10g and 100g to achieve a balance. A diagram of the arrangement is shown in figure 5.10 and the bar itself is supported with its centre of gravity at the pivot | a Calculate the value of the mass M, attached at X. | b What was the advantage of this method of measuring mass? SAQ 5.6. The asymmetric bar shown in figure 5.11 has a weight of 76N and a centre of gravity that is 0040m from an end on which there is a load of 3.3 N. Itis, pivoted a distance of 0.060 from its centre of gravity. Calculate the force P that is necessary at the far end of the bar in order to maintain equilibrium. The torque of a couple Figure 5.12 shows the forces needed to turn a car's steering wheel. The two forces balance up and down (15N up and 15N down), so the wheel will not move up, down or sideways. However, the Figure 5.11 For SAQ 5.6. 020m 020m © Figure 5.12 Two forces act on this steering wheel to make it turn, wheel is not in equilibrium. The pair of forces will cause it to rotate. ‘A pair of forces like that in figure 5.12 is known as a couple. A couple has a turning effect, but does not cause an object to accelerate. To form a couple, the two forces must be: m= equal in magnitude; = parallel, but opposite in direction; m separated by a distance d. The turning effect or moment of a couple is known as its torque. We can calculate the torque of the couple in figure 5.12 by adding the moments, of each force about the centre of the wheel: torque = (15N x 0.20 m) + (15N x 0.20m)=6Nm © Figure 5.13 A racing car’s steering wheel has a smaller diameter than that of a family saloon (figure 5.12), Because of this, the same couple applied to each will produce a smaller torque in. the racing car wheel.Forces, moments and pressure 55 rr We could have found the same result by multiply- ing one of the forces by the distance between them: torque = 15N x 0.4m =6Nm In general: torque of a couple = one of the forces x perpendicular distance between the forces SAQ 5.7. The driving wheel of a car travelling at a constant velocity has a torque of 157N m applied to it by the axle that drives the car (figure 5.14), The radius of the tyre is 0.18m, What is the driving force provided by this wheel? Pure, turning effect When we calculate the moment of a single force, the result depends on the point or pivot about which the moment acts. The further the force is from the pivot, the greater the moment. A couple is different; the moment of a couple does not depend on the point about which it acts, only on. the perpendicular distance between the two forces. A single force acting on an object will also tend ‘to make the object accelerate (unless there is another force to balance it}. A couple, however, is ‘a pair of equal and opposite forces, so it will not make the object accelerate. ‘Asa result, we can think of a couple as a pure “turning effect’, the size of which is given by its torque. «Figure 5.14 For SAQ 5.7. Pressure Often it is convenient to think of a force acting at a point on a body. For example, we picture the weight of an object acting at its centre of gravity, even though every part of the object is acted on by gravity. There are other forces which clearly do not act at a point. When you stand on the floor, the contact force (normal reaction) of the floor acts all over your feet. When you are swimming, the upthrust of the water pushes upwards on the underside of your body. In cases such as these, it is often useful to think about the pressure that the force exerts on an object. Pressure tells you about how the force is shared out over the area it acts on, For example, a flat shoe exerts a smaller pressure on the ground than a stiletto heel. The bigger the area, the smaller the pressure, for a given force. We can write this as an equation: force Pressure ~ area normal to force F en To find the pressure acting at a point on a surface, we picture a small area around the point. Then: ‘The pressure acting at a point is equal to the force per unit area acting on a small area around the point. The units of pressure are newtons per square metre (Nm™), which are given the special name of pascals (Pa). SAQ 5,8 ——____ A chair stands on four feet, each of area 10cm?, The chair weighs 80N. Calculate the pressure it exerts on the floor, SAQ 5.9. Estimate the pressure you exert on the floor when you stand on both feet.56 Forces and motion The triangle of forces: if three forces are acting on a point object that is in equilib- rium, they can be represented in magni- tude and direction by the sides of a triangle taken in order. © The centre of gravity of an object is that point through which the entire weight of the object may be considered to act. ‘© The moment of a force = force x perpendi- cular distance of the pivot from the line of action of the force. ‘The principle of moments: for any object that is in equilibrium, the sum of the clockwise moments about a point is equal to the sum of the anticlockwise moments about that same point. ‘© A pair of equal and opposite forces, not acting in the same straight line, is called a couple, and the turning effect that they cause is called a torque. ‘© The torque of a couple = one of the forces x perpendicular distance between the forces. © Equilibrium of a body is achieved when the resultant force and the resultant torque on the body are both zero. 2 F Pressure is force per unit area: p=. ——_—_—— © Figure 5.18 For question 4. Questior 1 Figure 5.15 shows a beam with four forces acting on it a. For each force, calculate the moment of the force about point P. b_ Say whether each moment is clockwise or anticlockwise. ¢ Are the moments of the forces balanced? Fy=10N Fy=20N 25em-+ +-25em-—> 30; Fy=10N y= 10N @ Figure 5.15 For question 1. 2. Force F shown in figure 5.16 has a moment * of 40Nm about the pivot. What is the magnitude of F? ¢ Figure 5.16 For question 2. 3A force of 20N acts as shown to balance the beam in figure 5.17. At what distance x from the pivot point must it act? el aa © Figure 5.17 For question 3. 4° Acantilevered balcony is shown in figure 5.18. Using the data given on the dia- gram, calculate the value of the support force 8.Forces, moments and pressure 57Had Work, energy and power LiL 1 understand the concept of work in terms of the product of force and in the direction of the force; 2 define the joule; 3 recall and use the equation for work done: W= Fr i where Fis a constant force along the direction ‘of m moved by the force; 4 recall and use the equation for change in gravitational potential energy AE, = mgAh; 5 recall and use the equation for kinetic energy &, = }mv*; 6 relate power P to work done W and time taken f 7 define the watt; 8 recall and use the equation W = Pt. i energy because, when the athlete releases them, Doing work theycome crashing do othe ound ‘The weightlifter shown in figure 6.1 has powerful As the athlete lifts the weights and transfers muscles. They can provide the force needed to lift | gergy to them, we say that her lifting force is large weight above her head about 2m above the aging work, ‘Doing work’ is just one way of ground. The force transfers energy from the athlete transferring energy from one object to another. to the weights. We know that they have gained (An example of another way of transferring energy ‘would be by heating something ~ energy is, transferred from a bunsen flame to a beaker) In physics, we often use an everyday word but with a special meaning. Work is an example of this; table 6.1 on page 59 describes some situations which illustrate the physics meaning of doing work. It is important to appreciate that our bodies sometimes mislead us. If you hold a heavy weight above your head for some time, your muscles will get tired. However, you are not doing any work on the weights, because you are not transferring energy to the weights once they are above your head. Your mus- cles get tired because they are constantly relaxing and contracting, and this uses energy, but none of the energy is being transferred to the weights.Work, energy and power 59 rs ey ‘© Table 6.1 The physics meaning of ‘doing work’. Calculating work done ‘There is no doubt that you do work if you push a car along the road. A force transfers energy from you to the car. But how much work do you do? ‘Figure 6.2 shows the two factors involved: m the size of the force F - the bigger the force, the greater the amount of work you do; = the distance x you push the car - the further you push it, the greater the amount of work. So, the bigger the force, and the further it moves, the greater the amount of work done. @ Figure 62 You have to do work to start the car moving. ‘work done = force x distance moved in the direction of the force W=Fxx In the example shown in figure 6.2, F= 300 and x= 5m, so: work done W= Fx x= 300N x 5m = 1500] Energy transferred Doing work is a way of transferring energy. For both, the correct SI unit is the joule (J). The amount of work done, calculated using W= Fx x, tells us the amount of energy transferred: ‘work done = energy transferred Newtons, metres and joules From the equation W = F x x, we can see how newtons and joules are related: newton x 1 metre Nm 1 joul 1 A joule is the amount of work done when a force of 1 newton moves a distance of 1 metre in the direction of the force. Since work done = energy transferred, it follows that a joule is also the amount of energy transferred when a force of 1 newton moves a distance of 1 metre in the direction of the force. SAQ 6.1 In each of the following examples, explain whether cor not any work is done by the force mentioned. a You pull a heavy sack along rough ground. b Gravity pulls you downwards when you fall off a wall. © The tension in a string pulls on a conker when ‘you whirl it around in a circle at a steady speed. d_ The contact force of the bedroom floor stops you from falling into the room below. SAQ 6.2 ‘Aman of mass 70kg climbs stairs of height 2.5m. How much work does he do against the force of gravity? (Take g = 9.8ms*)60 Forces and motion SAQ 6.3. ‘A sstone of weight 10N falls from the top of a 250m high clif a How much work is done by the force of gravity in pulling the stone to the foot of the cliff? b_ How much energy is transferred to the ston Force, distance and direction It is important to appreciate that, for a force to do work, there must be movement in the direction of the force. To illustrate this, we will consider three examples involving gravity (figure 6.3). In the equation for work done, W = F x x, the distance moved x is thus the displacement in the direction of the force. © Figure 6.4 For SAQ 6.4; the dotted line shows the track of the load as it is lifted by the crane. SAQ 6.4, The crane shown in figure 6.4 lifts its SOON load to the top of the building. Distances are as shown on the diagram. How much work is done by the crane? ]2 A stone weighing SN rolls 50m down a slope. What is the change in GPE? (see page 61) force on stone force on stone force on satellite = pull of gravity = weight of stone |» pull of gravity = weight of stone pill of gravity = weight of satellite = 5N vertically downwards =5N vertically downwards = 500N towards centre of Barth distance moved by stone x = 50m distance moved by stone x = 50m down | distance moved by satellite towards vertically downwards slope centre of Earth (ie. in direction of force) x= 0 Since F and x are in the same ‘Now Fand x are not in the same The satellite remains at a constant direction, there is no problem: direction, We need to find the vertical | distance from the Earth; it does not change in GPE = Fx distance moved by the stone; from the | move in the direction of F | =5Nx som = 250 diagram, this is h = 30m. change in GPE = Fx x | change in GPE = Fx = 500N x 0m = 0} = 5N x 30m = 150] So the KE and the GPE of the satelite remain constant. ¢ Figure 63 Three examples involving gravity.Work, energy and power 61 eal Gravitational potential energy If you lift a heavy object, you do work. You are pro- viding an upward force to overcome the down- ward force of gravity on the object; your force ‘moves the object upwards, so the force is doing work. In this way, energy is transferred from you to the object. You lose energy. and the object gains energy. We say that its gravitational potential energy i, has increased, The worked example which follows shows how to calculate a change in gravitational potential energy (or GPE for short). First it helps to draw a diagram of the situation (figure 6.5), The downward force on the weights is their weight W’— mg. An equal, upward force F is required to lift them. w mg = 200kg x 9.8N/kg = 1960N Now we can calculate the work done by the force F work done = force x distance moved = 1960N x 1.5m = 2940) (Note that the distance moved is in the same direction as the force) So the work done on the weights is 2940 J. This is also the value of the increase in their GPE. © Figure 6.5 For the worked example. A formula for GPE ‘The change in the GPE of an object, AEp, depends on the change in its height, Ah, We can calculate ‘ABp using this equation: change in GPE = weight x change in height AE, = mgah It should be clear where this equation comes from. The force needed to lift an object is equal to its weight mg. The work done by this force is given by force x distance moved, or weight x change in height. (You might feel that it takes a force greater than the weight of the object being raised to lift it upwards, but this is not so. Provided the force is equal to the weight, the object will move upwards at a steady speed.) Note that we can only use the equation AE, = mgAh for relatively small changes in height. It won't work, for example, in the case ofa satel lite orbiting the Earth. Satellites orbit at a height of at least 200km, and g has a smaller value at this height. SAQ65: How much gravitational potential energy is gained if you climb a flight of stairs? Assume thal you have a ‘mass of 52kg and that the height you Ut yourself is 25m. SAQ 6.6. ‘Aclimber of mass 100kg (including the equipment he is carrying) ascends from sea level to the top of a mountain 550m high. By how much does his GPE increase? (Take g = 9.8ms™) Kinetic energy As well as lifting an object, a force can make it accelerate. Again, work is done by the force and energy is transferred to the object. In this case, we say that it has gained kinetic energy, fy. The faster an object is moving, the greater its kinetic energy (KX), Kinetic energy = } x mass x velocity* B= bm?62 Forces and motion Worked example Step 1: Calculate the initial KE of the car. E, = Imy? =F x 800kg x (20ms"!)? = 160000) = 160k Step 2: Calculate the final KE of the car. my? = i x 800kg x (30ms"")? = 360000) 60KI Step 5: Calculate the change in the car’s KE. Change in KE = 360K - 160k) = 200K) Take care! You can't calculate the change in KE using the change in velocity. In this example, the change in velocity is 10m", and this would give an incorrect value for the change in KE. SAQ 6.7. Which has more KE, a car of mass 500kg moving, at 15ms"', or a motorcycle of mass 250kg moving at 30ms"? SAQ 6.8: Calculate the change in kinetic energy of a ball of mass 200g when it bounces. Assume that it hits the ground with a speed of 15.8ms" and leaves it at I22ms"! Origin of the equation ‘The equation for KE, Ey = }mv’, is related to one of the equations of motion (see page 19). We imagine a car being accelerated from rest (u = 0) to velocity v. To give it acceleration a, it is pushed by a force F for a distance s. Since u = 0, we can write the equation v? = u? + 2as as: v= 2as Multiplying both sides by 4m gives dmv? = mas ‘Now, ma is the force F, and mas is the force x the distance it moves, that is, the work done by the force. So we have }mv* = work done by force F ‘This is the energy transferred to the car, and hence its kinetic energy. GPE-KE transformations When an object falls, it speeds up. Its GPE decreases and its KE increases. Energy is being transformed from gravitational potential energy to kinetic energy. If no energy is lost in the process, decrease in GPE = gain in KE ‘We can use this idea to solve a variety of problems, as illustrated by the worked example. Worked example Step 1: Calculate the loss in GPE as the sphere falls highest position. igAh = 5kg x 98Nkg" x 0.15m = 735) Step 2: This tells us that the gain in the sphere’s KE is 735 J. We can use this to calculate the sphere’s, velocity. First calculate v?, then v: tm? © Figure 6.6 For the worked example,Note that we would obtain the same result no matter what the mass of the sphere. This is because both KE and GPE depend on mass m. If we write change in GPE = change in KE mgAh = dmv? ‘we can cancel m from both sides, so that the mass is irrelevant. This is not surprising; we could use the same equation to calculate the speed of an object falling from height h. An object of small mass gains the same speed as an object of large mass, provided air resistance has no effect. SAQ 6.9—__ Rework the worked example above; take the mass of the brass sphere as 10kg, and show that you get the same result, Repeat with any other value of mass. SAQ 6.10. How much gravitational potential energy is lost by an aircraft of mass 80000 kg if it descends from an allitude of 10000 to an altitude of 100m? What happens to this energy if the pilot keeps its speed constant? SAO C1 Dr A high diver (see figure 6.7) reaches a highest point in her jump where her centre of gravity is 10m above the water. Assuming that all her gravitational potential energy becomes kinetic energy during the dive, calculate her velocity as she enters the water. ¢ Figure 6.7 A high dive is an example of converting (transforming) gravitational potential energy to kinetic energy. Work, energy and power 63, et © Figure 68 A lift needs a powerful motor to raise the car when it has a full load of people. The motor does many thousands of joules of work ‘each second. Power ‘The word power has several different meanings ~ political power, powers of ten, electrical power from power stations. In physics, it has a specific meaning which is related to these other mean- ings Figure 68 ilustrates what we mean by power iaghnsies The lift shown in figure 6.8 can lift a heavy load of people. The motor at the top of the building provides a force to raise the lift car, and this force does work against gravity. The motor transfers energy to the lift car. The power P of the motor is the rate at which it does work: work done Ww time taken t work done = power x time taken =Pt power = Units of power: the watt Power is measured in watts, named after James ‘Watt, the Scottish engineer famous for his devel- ‘opment of the steam engine in the second half of the eighteenth century. 1 watt = 1 joule per second 1W=1]s 1000 watts = 1 kilowatt (1 kW) 1000000 watts = 1 megawatt (1 MW) You are probably familiar with the labels on light, bulbs which indicate their power in watts (60W, 100W etc). In this case, the values of power tell you about the energy transferred by an electrical current, rather than by a force doing work.64 Forces and motion Take care not to confuse the two uses of the letter W: ‘W= watt (a unit) W = work done (a quantity) Firs, we must calculate the work done: work done = force x distance moved 20kN x 20m = 400K5 Now we can calculate the motor’s power: work done _ 400k) Power = Time taken 10s ~ "OKW So the lift motor’s power is 40 kW. Note that this is its mechanical power output. The motor cannot be 100% efficient since some energy is bound to be wasted as heat due to fiction, so the electrical power input must be more than 40 kW. Note also that if the force is in kN, the work done comes out in kJ and the power in KW. SAQ 6.12 How much work is done by a 50kW car engine in 1 minute? Human power Our energy supply comes from our food. A typical diet supplies 2000-3000 kcal (kilocalories) per day. ‘This is equivalent (in SI units) to about 10 MJ of energy. We need this energy for our daily require- ments - keeping warm, moving about, brainwork, and so on. We can work out the average power of all the activities of our body: average power = 101 per lil S222 Sic 864008 So we dissipate energy at the rate of about 100 W. ‘We supply roughly as much energy to our sur- roundings as a 100W light bulb (though we are not as bright). Twenty people will keep a room as ‘warm as a 2kW electric heater. Note that this is our average power. If you are doing some demanding physical task, your power will be greater, as the next worked example illustrates. © Figure 69 Running upstairs can require a high rate of doing work. You may have investigated your own power in this way. First calculate the work done against gravity work done I =F xd =500N x 3m = 1500) Now calculate the power: W__ 1500J power P="F = “= 300W So, while the person is running up the stairs, they are doing work against gravity at a greater rate than their average power ~ perhaps three times as great. ‘And, since our muscles are not very efficent, they need {o be supplied with energy even faster, per- haps at a rate of 1 KW. This is why we cannot run up stairs all day long without greatly increasing the amount we eat. The inefficiency of our muscles also explains why we get hot when we exert ourselves. ———Work, energy and power 65 es @ To calculate the work done W by a force, we need to know the size of the force F, and the displacement in the direction of the force, x. Then: Wk A joule is the work done (or energy transferred) when a force of 1N moves a distance of 1m in the direction of the force. ‘@ When an object of mass mg rises through a height Ah, its gravitational potential energy E, increases by an amount AE, = mgah 1 How much work do you do when you lift a heavy book of mass 2kg ftom the floor to a shelf 1.8m above the floor? (Take g= 9.8ms7) 2. The car shown in figure 6.10 weighs 5000N. It travels 1km along a sloping road, end- ing up 100m higher than its starting posi- tion. Its engine provides a forward motive force of 2KN. a How much work is done by the force of © The kinetic energy Fx of a body of mass m Power is the rate at which work is done (or # Awatt is a joule per second. nS moving at speed vis x= Sw? energy transferred): 4 Acar’s engine provides a motive force of 700N when the car is moving at its top speed of 4oms. a How much work does the car's engine do in each second? b What is the engine’s power output? 5 Inan experiment to measure a student's power, she times herself running up a flight of steps. Use the data below to work out her usefull power. number of steps = 28 height of each step = 20cm the engine? bb How much work is done against the force of gravity? time taken = 5.45 What other force is the engine working mass of student = 55 kg against? acceleration due to gravity = 9.8m s? 3. Acar engine does 4200kj of work in one minute. What is its power output, in kilowatts? normal reaction force of engine 2kN j100m friction, weight SKN © Figure 6.10 ‘The forward motive force of a car engine does work in moving the car uphill ~ see question 2, Leeann eee eee ee ee EEEa A Forces, vehicles and safety 1 understand the terms motive force and braking for 2 describe how driving wheels can generate a motive force; : SS 3 explain the effect of forces in a tow bar on the towing and on the towed vehicles; 4 explain the importance of friction in acceleration and deceleration; 5 understand the principles of drum and of disc brakes; 6 recall and use the relationship: motive power = driving force x speed 7 analyse car accidents using equations of uniformly accelerated motion and F= ma; On the move In the previous chapters, we have looked at how the motion of an object is affected by the forces acting on it. In this chapter, we will apply those ideas to the particular case of vehicles ~ cars, trucks, trains etc. We will start by thinking about the forces which are involved in making a car speed up or slow down. ‘We see cars so often that it hardly seems worth asking the question ~ how does a car move? The answer seems obvious - its engine provides the motive force needed to move it forwards. However, normal reaction motive force weight b Forces where the wheel meets the ground. push of tyre . on road : 8 describe the physical principles of seat belts, air bags and crumple zones; 9 understand and make calculations using the terms thinking distance, braking distance and stopping distance; 10 relate qualitatively tyre tread and road conditions to braking distance. we should think little more carefully about just how an on-board engine can do this. Figure 71a shows the forces acting on a car as it sets off from rest. The car's weight is balanced by the normal reaction (contact force) of the road. The forward force (the motive force of the engine via the wheels) is unbalanced. Figure 2.1b shows a detail of one wheel. The engine provides a torque which turns the axle. ‘The axle is attached to the wheel, so the wheel also turns. Now, what happens at the point where the wheel touches the road surface? Here, two forces are shown: m the backward push of the tyre % on the road; m= the forward push of the road on the tyre If the car is to move forward, it needs an unbalanced forward force on it to start it moving. This force is the forward push of the road on the tyre, not the backward push of the tyre on the push of road on tyreForces, vehicles and safety 67 ‘¢ Figure 72 The forces on a foot as its owner walks forwards. road. So the purpose of the engine is to provide a torque to the ‘wheels so that the wheels push backwards on the road surface. Then the road pushes the car forwards. (These two forces are an example of ‘action and reaction’; you should recall that when two bodies inter- act, they exert equal and opposite forces on each other. This is Newton's third law of motion) ‘The same thing happens when you walk along the road. Your foot (figure 72) pushes backwards on the road surface; the road pushes you forwards, ‘The force that pushes you (or the car) forwards is friction. The road surface must be rough: if the road surface is smooth and slippery, friction is reduced and your foot may not grip enough to allow you to push backwards on the road surface. Because walking also involves leaning forwards, you may find that you fall flat on your face. SAQ71—— Use the idea of friction to explain what happens when a car tries to move forward on a slippery road surface. —enewr SAQ. 7.2 ‘A car engine provides a torque of 600Nm to the axle of a car. If the diameter of the tyre is 0.5m, what is the resulting forward force on the car? ee Braking For a car to slow down, the driver presses on the brake pedal. Here again, friction is important. The brakes provide a frictional braking force to slow down the car. Their effect is to provide a torque oppo- site to the torque provided by the engine. There is therefore less backward force on the road, so the forward push of the road is reduced. Figure 73 shows how these two torques act, one clockwise and the other anticlockwise. ‘There are two main types of brake in use in motor vehicles; disc brakes and drum brakes. In disc brakes (figure 74), an extra wheel or ‘wheel turning clockwise torque of engine torque of ‘brakes © Figure 73 The torque produced by the brakes ofa car act in the opposite sense to the torque of the engine. This is because friction acts to oppose motion; if the wheel is turning ant- clockwise, friction acts clockwise. disc is fixed to the axle. When the driver applies the brakes, pis- tons push the brake pads against the disc. The harder the pads are pushed, the greater the frie: tional force on the disc and so the greater the frictional torque which slows the car down. In drum brakes (figure 75), drum is fixed to the inside of the wheel. Brake shoes push against the inside of the drum to pro- vide the frictional force needed to slow the car. Brakes get hot because of the work done by the frictional forces involved in braking, It is relatively easy for heat to escape from the open disc brakes, so these are generally fitted to a car’s front wheels. Drum brakes are more usually fitted to the rear wheels, because they over- heat more readily and this reduces their braking torque.68 Forces and motion @ Figure 74 Disc brakes: a metal disc is attached to the axle, next to the wheel. When the brakes are applied, hydraulic pistons push the brake pads against the disc. This provides the necessary torque to slow the car. return spring © Figure 75 Drum brakes: a metal drum is fixed inside the wheel. When the brakes are applied, hydraulic pistons push the brake shoes against the rum. The linings of the brake shoes are gradually ‘worn away by friction. $AQ 7.3. Acar is moving forward to the lefl. The driver applies the brakes. Draw a diagram of one wheel of the car. Indicate which way the wheel is turning, Indicate also. the direction of the torque provided by the brakes. Motive power ‘The engine of a car transfers energy to the car. In other words, the motive force provided by the engine does work to make the car accelerate. If the car is moving at a steady speed, the motive force of the engine must be equal to the force of air resistance which tends to slow the car down. ‘These two horizontal forces are balanced, just as the two vertical forces (weight and contact force) are balanced. How much energy does the motive force trans- fer to the car? And what is the motive power of the engine? To answer this, we need to calculate how much work it does. You should recall from chapter 6: work done = force x distance moved W=Fe So, for a car whose engine provides a motive force of SOON while travelling 1km at a steady speed on a flat roa ‘work done = 500N x 1000 m = 500 kj Note that this energy is transferred to the car, but the car then transfers the energy to the air as it overcomes the force of air resistance. The car doesn’t speed up, so its energy is not increasing. If the car in question travels 1 km in 50s, what is the power of its engine? You should recall that power is the rate of doing work: = Work done time taken 500k] so: power of engine = 204) ro Kw 508 Note that the total power consumption of the engine is much more than this. A large fraction ~ perhaps two thirds - of the energy supplied by the fuel is wasted as heat within the engine, or because of friction in the transmission, If we take the equation for work done W = Fx and divide both sides by the time taken we get: Wik tot But xt is the car’s speed v. So we can write: ‘motive power = force x speed P=Py Look back to question 4 at the end of chapter 6 (page 65). If you tackled this question, you will see¢ Figure 76 A shuttle locomotive ~ great motive power is needed to speed a 2400 tonne train through the Channel Tunnel. that you followed the same logic as that shown above. SAQ 74 ———_<$$$_________ Channel Tunnel shuttle trains figure 7.6) have a toco- motive at either end, each capable of providing up to 200KN of motive force. Estimate the power of a shuttle locomotive ifit can travel at speeds up to 40ms"! On tow ‘When a car pulls a caravan or trailer (figure 7.7), the motive force of its engine must accelerate the Sufficient force must be transmitted through the coupling which links the two. Similarly, the engine of an articulated lorry isin the front section; it must provide the force needed to accelerate the trailer. Only cars with large, naa bn powerful engines are suit- ofroad on front wheels able for towing caravans. ‘The engine must provide sufficient force to acceler- ate both the car and the caravan, The forces acting are shown in figure 78. ‘The first thing to notice is Forces, vehicles and safety 69) © Figure 7:7 A car towingigcaravan ~ the link between the two transmits the motive force of the car's engine to the caravan. The forces acting in this situation are shown in figure 78. the caravan, in the righthand diagram. They don’t show the forces that the object exerts on anything else, such as the force of the car pushing down on the road. Free-body diagrams help us to focus on the forces relevant to solving a particular problem Secondly, the car pulls on the caravan with a force P. The caravan pulls backwards on the car with an equal and opposite force P. These two forces are an example of an action and reaction pair (Newton's third law of motion), There must be a forward force P on the caravan, tending to acceler- ate it, and equally there must be a backward force P on the cat, as the caravan tends to slow it down. Finally, the vertical forces on both are balanced, since neither the car nor the caravan is accelerat- ing upwards or downwards, so we can neglect these forces. contact force contact force of road ‘of road on ‘on caravan back wheels force car (P} 5 exerts on that these diagrams are free Toe pei body diagrams. They show of ear Se of caravan only the forces acting on a single object ~ the car, in the leftchand diagram, and © Figure 78 Freebody diagrams for a car towing a caravan. Bach diagram shows the forces acting on one object only.70 Forces and motion The worked example shows how we can deduce the force P and the motive force that must be provided by the car's engine. Worked example Figure 79 shows'the horizontal forces acting on the car and the caravan. It includes the values of the drag forces acting on each object. It is easiest to start with the caravan, since there is only one unknown force, P. It is accelerating towards the right, resultant force on caravan =P ~ 400N Using F = ma: P —400N = 800kg x 2ms* = 1600N $0 P= 1600N + 400N = 2000N So the force exerted by the car on the caravan is. 2000. Now we can consider the car, and work out the motive force: resultant force on car =F ~P - 200N — 2200N Using F= ma: F ~2200N = 1000kg x 2ms~* = 2000N So F=2000N + 2200N = 4200N The motive force of the car engine is 4200. We could have arrived at the same result for F using, a different approach, The car and caravan together have a mass of 1800kg, so a force of 3600N is needed to give them an acceleration of 2ms-*. Add. to this the two drag forces, and we get 4200N, the force which the engine must provide. However, this approach does not tell us about the force P, which is vilal if we are to know how strong to make the link between the car and caravan. ‘¢ Figure 79 The horizontal forces acting on a car and caravan as they accelerate from rest. SAQ 7.5 The engine of the car in figure 79 can provide a ‘maximum motive force of 6000N. Assuming that the drag forces remain unchanged, calculate: the maximum acceleration which can be achieved; ‘ the force which the car exerts on the caravan at this acceleration. Car safety features ‘Today's cars are much safer than those of twenty or thirty years ago. This is because designers now include several different features which can help to protect the driver and passengers during an impact. Nevertheless, there is still a one in 200 chance that you will eventually die in a road accident. Passenger cells Many modern cars are designed so that the people using them are protected in a passenger cell (figure 7.10), This is a rigid “box’ which is more likely to survive an impact. The front compart- ‘ment of the car is the crumple zone, which squashes up in a crash. This absorbs a lot of the kinetic energy of the moving car. At the same time, the heavy engine is directed downwards so that it isn't pushed into the passenger cell. Figure 7.10 Ina car, you may be protected by a reinforced passenger cell and a collapsible crumple zone.Forces, vehicles and safety 71 a Seal belts When a car crashes, its occupants may be thrown about. The car stops, but the people keep on moving. They are likely to be thrown forwards, colliding with the windscreen or steering wheel. Seat belts help to keep the passengers in their seats. The inertia reels come into operation when- ever a sudden force acts to pull on the belt. (The end of each belt is wound round an inertia reel. ‘You can pull the belt slowly from the reel; pull it fast, and the reel clamps it firmly.) A seat belt is slightly stretchy so that the passenger isn’t brought to a halt too suddenly, which would involve a large force that could break bones. Air bags Some cars are fitted with air bags to protect those in the front. If the car suddenly decelerates, the bag inflates and the person is cushioned as they ‘move forwards. Almost immediately, the bag deflates, so that the person does not bounce back. ‘These three examples of car safety features all rely on controlling the compressive forces which arise during a collision. There is more about com- pressive forces, work and energy in chapter 8. SAQ 7.6 ‘a. Use the idea of energy to explain how a crumple zone protects people in a crash. Use the idea of pressure to explain why a seat belt should be wide rather than narrow ~ they are usually at least 6 cm across. An accelerometer is a device that measures acceler- ation (and deceleration). What role would an accelerometer have in the operation of an air bag? Stopping distances ‘The Highway Code indicates the shortest stopping distances which can realistically be achieved by drivers. These are shown in table 71 (and you can refer back to figure 2.24). Stopping distance is made up of two parts: the time it takes you to react (think- jing distance), and the time it actually takes to stop ‘once the brakes are applied (braking distance): stopping distance = thinking distance + braking distance ‘The figures given are for a well-maintained car in good road conditions. A car with bad brakes, trav- elling on a poor or wet road surface, could take much longer to stop. You should notice two features of the data in table 7.1 1m Thinking distance increases steadily (in propor- tion) with speed. This is because the time taken to react is constant, about twothirds of a second. At twice the speed, you will travel twice the distance. = Braking distance increases more rapidly, in proportion to the square of the speed. So brak- ing distance at 40 mph (24m) is four times as. much as at 20 mph (6m). You will find the same relationship if you compare braking distances at 60mph and 30mph. We can understand this using one of the equations of motion (chapter 2}: v= u? +2as ‘The final speed v is 0; rearranging gives ou 2a So, for a given acceleration a, the braking distance is proportional to the square of the speed. SAQ 77. Plot a graph of thinking distance against speed (in ms~'), using data from table 71. From the gradient, deduce the thinking time.72 Forces and motion SAQ.7.8 The values of braking distances in table 71 are deduced assuming a realistic value for the acceleration a of a car as it stops in an emergency. You can deduce the value of a as follows: a Draw up a table of values of speed? (u?) and braking distance (s) b Plot a graph of u? against s. ¢ Rearranging the equation s = -u?/2a gives a = -u?/2s. Deduce a from the gradient of the graph, Treading softly ‘The condition of a car’s tyres is also important in determining how quickly it can stop. The tread of the tyre is designed to ensure good grip between the tyre and the road. This helps to ensure that there is enough friction so that the tyre does not slip. On a wet road, water on the road surface inoves up into the gaps in the tread; with a bald tyre, there is nowhere for the water to go and the car may simply slide along the road on a film of ‘water. The tread may also be designed to throw water outwards from the wheel, but this is not very pleasant for any pedestrians or cyclists. Figure 7.11 shows how the pressure on a tyre changes as a car brakes. Normally, the weight of the car is evenly distributed across the surface of the tyre. On braking, the weight of the car presses down: harder at the front. (There is a tendency for the back of the car to rise up.) The result is an uneven. distribution of load over the surface of the tyre. If you examine skid marks on the road, you may be able to detect whether they were made by the front force evenly distributed contact only at outside edges @ Figure 7.11 Crosssections of car tyres: a a correctly inflated tyre on normal running; b a front tyre on braking; ¢ a rear tyre on braking, contact only. at centre or rear wheels of the car: A single narrow mark is, from a rear tyre; twin, parallel tracks are from a front tyre. This is something traffic police look for when examining the road after an accident. $AQ7.9 Use the ideas of figure 711 to explain why itis not a good idea to drive a car with over-inflated tyres. Investigating road traffic accidents ‘The police frequently have to investigate road traffic accidents. They make use of many aspects of the physics contained in the first seven chapters of this book. The next two questions will help you to apply what you have learned to situations where police investigators have used evidence from skid marks on the road. $AQ 7.10 Trials on the surface of a new road show thal, when a car skids to a halt, its acceleration is -70ms*. Estimate the skid-to-stop distance of a car travelling at the speed limit of 530m” (approx HOkm/h or 70 mph). SAQ 7.11. At the scene of an accident on a French country road, police find skid marks stretching for 50m. Tests on the road surface show that a skiddit decelerates at 6.5 ms~. Was the car wl skidded exceeding the speed limit of 25 ms"! (90km/h) on this stretch of road? $AQ 7.12 Acar travelling at 20 ms" crashes into a brick wall. The driver of mass 70kg is brought to a halt in 05s. Calculate: a. the drivers deceleration; b the resultant force acting on the driver during the crash,‘The wheels of a car are turned by the torque provided by the engine. The car is propelled forward by the frictional reaction of the ground. ‘The brakes of a car (disc or drum) make use of friction to create a torque on the axle. This decelerates the car. When a vehicle pulls a trailer, they exert equal and opposite forces on each other. A free body diagram of each object is used to determine the forces in a tow bar. ‘The motive power is given by: motive power = driving force x speed Cars are made more safe by incorporating safety features such as seat belts, air bags and crumple zones. Tyres should have good tread to ensure that they grip the road. Smooth or wet road surfaces provide poor grip. ‘Thinking distance + braking distance = stopping distance. 1 A locomotive of mass 100 tonnes pulls a train of wagons, with a total mass of 500 tonnes. The locomotive experiences a drag force of 50KN, and the wagons a drag force of 1OOKN. It sets off with acceleration 1ms™, Calculate: a_ the force with which the locomotive pulls the wagons; ‘the motive force which it must provide. (1 tonne = 1000 kg) 2. A driver is travelling at 30ms“. She sees an incident on the road, 150m ahead. After a thinking time of 0.6, she presses on the brake pedal. The car decelerates at 3ms*, Will it stop before it reaches the incident? 3. An aircraft flying at 300ms” experiences air resistance of 50kN. What power must its engines supply to maintain this speed? 4 a An aeroplane with no passengers in it has a mass of 120000 kg when ready for take-off. Its engines give it a thrust of 600 000N and it needs to reach a velocity of 60m” in order to take off. ‘What length of runway is required? D If the plane is loaded with 360 passengers and their luggage, the mass of the plane increases by 36000kg and the take-off velocity increases to 70ms". Calculate the length of run- way required for the loaded aeroplane. © Why, in practice, are runways considerably longer than this type of calculation predicts? aVa ae) Deforming solids 1 appreciate that deformation is caused by a pair of forces and can be tensile (stretching) or compressive (squashing); 2. describe the behaviour of springs and wires in terms of load, extension, the spring constant and Hooke's law; : 3 define and use the terms elastic limit, stress, strain and the Young modulus; 4 describe an experiment to determine j Modulus of a metal in the form of a wire; 5 distinguish between elastic and plastic deformation of a material; 6 demonstrate knowledge of the force-extension graphs for typical ductile, brittle and polymeric materials, including an understanding of ultimate tensile stress; 7 deduce the strain energy in a deformed material from the area under the force-extension graph. Stretching a spring Springs are usually made of metal. They help us to have a comfortable ride in a car, and they con- tribute to a good night's sleep. They can be made of materials other than metals - plastic, rubber, or even glass. Wood is a springy material, because trees must be able to bend in a high wind. A pair of forces are needed to change the shape of a spring. If the spring is being squashed and shortened, we say that the forces are compressive. More usually, we are concerned with stretching a spring, in which case the fores are described as tensile (figure 8.2). ‘ Fa 2 EE — compressive forces c+ — tensile forces ¢ Figure 81 ‘The stifness of rubber isa crucial # Figure 82 The effects of compressive and tensile factor in bungee jumping forces | | |© Figure 83 Stretching a spring. Itis simple to investigate the stiffness of a spring. The spring hangs freely with the top end clamped firmly (figure 83). A load is added and gradually increased. For each value of the load, the extension of the spring is measured. (Note that it is important to determine the increase in length, which we call the extension.) To calculate the stiffness of the spring, we draw a graph of load against extension (figure 84). Hooke's law ‘The graph shown in figure 8.4 has extension on the vertical axis, and load on the horizontal axis. This is the conventional way of plotting the results of this experiment, since we are changing the load and this results in a change in the extension. For a typical spring, the first section of this graph AB is a straight line passing through the origin. This tells us that the extension x is proportional to the load F. We can write this as an equation: Fekx where k = Fjx is the spring constant of the spring. (sometimes called the spring’s stiffness). This is the force per unit extension, or the force needed Deforming solids 75 od to extend the spring by one metre. We can find the spring constant from the gradient of section AB of the graph: spring constant k = rage Beyond point B, the graph is no longer a straight line. This is probably because the spring has become permanently deformed: it has been stretched beyond its elastic limit. The meaning of the term elastic limit is discussed further in a later section of this chapter (pages 78-9). If a spring or anything else responds to a pair of tensile forces in the way shown in section AB of {igure 8.4, we say that it obeys Hooke’s law: ‘An object obeys Hooke's law if the extension produced in it is proportional to the load. _ SAQ 8.1, Figure 85 shows the load-extension graphs for four springs, A-D. a. Which spring has the greatest value of spring constant? b_ Which is the least stiff? ‘© Which does not obey Hooke’s law? Investigating springs Find two or three identical springs. You can. combine springs in different ways (figure 8.6 on. page 76): end-to-end (in series) and side-by-side (in parallel). You are going to measure the spring © Figure 85 Load-extension graphs for four springs.76 Forces and motion a b © Figure 8.6 Two ways to combine two springs. constant of a single spring, and of springs in series and in parallel. Before you do this, however, try to predict the outcome of your experiment: If the spring constant of a single spring is k, what will be the spring constant of two springs @ And of two springs in parallel? Make suitable measurements to check your predictions. You might extend your ideas to combinations of three or more springs. Stretching materials Because they are coiled, springs extend a lot fora small load. Ifyou have along piece of metal wire, it is possible to see it stretch, but this can take a large force. Materials scientists are often interested ¢ Figure 8.7 This tensile testing machine is being used to test the strength of a valve stem from a racing car engine. clamp metre rule Sellotape © Figure 88 Stretching a wire in the laboratory. WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES and be carefull not to overload the wire. to find out about the characteristics of materials, when large forces are applied to them. They may use large tensile testing machines capable of pro- ducing large compressive and tensile forces. One such machine is shown in figure 8.7. ‘When we measure the stiffness of a spring, we re only finding out about the stiffness of that particular spring. However, we can talk about the stiffness of particular materials. We might say, for example, that steel is stiffer than copper. Stress and strain Figure 88 shows a simple way of measuring the stiffness of a wire in the laboratory. As the wire is stretched, the position of the Sellotape marker can be read from the scale on the bench. Why do we use a long wire? Obviously, this is because a short wire would not stretch as much as a long one. We need to take account of this in our calcu we do this by calculating the strain pro- duced by the load. The strain is the fractional increase in the length of the wire extension strain = — original length Note that both extension and original length must be in the same units and so strain is a ratio, without units. Sometimes strain is given as a percentage. Why do we use a thin wire? Obviously, this is because a thick wire‘would not stretch as much for the same force. ‘Again, we need to take account of this in our cal culations, and we do this by calculating the stress produced by the load. The stress is the load per unit crosssectional area of the wire: load ‘ross-sectional area stress Since load is in newtons and area in square metres, stress is similar to pressure, and has the same units: Nm’ or pascals, Pa. If you imagine ‘compressing a bar of metal rather than stretching a wire, you will see why stress or pressure is the important quantity. The Young modulus ‘We can now find the stiffness of the material we are stretching, Rather than calculating load/extension, we calculate the ratio of stress to strain. This quan- tity {s called the Young modulus of the material: tress strain Young modulus = ‘The unit of the Young modulus is the same as for stress, Nm’? or Pa, In practice, values may be quoted in MPa or GPa (1 MPa = 10°Pa, 1 GPa = 10°Pa). Usually, we plot a graph with stress on the vertical axis and strain on the horizontal axis (figure 8.9). This is the reverse of the spring graph (figure 8.4), where force is drawn on the horizontal axis; it is drawn like this so that the gradient is, the Young modulus. It is important to consider only the first, straight section of the graph. ‘Table 8.1 gives some values of the Young, modulus for different materials. © Figure 89 Stress-strain graph, and how to deduce the Young modulus. © Table 8.1 The Young modulus of various materials. Many of these values depend on the precise composition of the material concerned. SAQ 8.2 List the metals in table 8.1 from stiffest to least stiff. ‘SAQ 8.3. Which non-metal in the table is the stiffest? SAQ 8.4 Figure 8.10 shows stress-strain graphs for two materials. Use the graphs to determine the Young modulus of each. co an /| noe ace @ Figure 8.10 Stress-strain graphs for two different materials.78 Forces and motion SAQ 8.5: ‘A piece of steel wire, 200.0cm long and having cross-sectional area 0.5 mm?, is stretched by a force of SON. Its new length is found to be 200.1 cm. Calculate the stress and strain, and the Young modulus of steel SAQ 8.6 By how much will a 1m length of copper wire, diameter 1mm, be stretched by a 10N load? (Young modulus of copper = 150GPa) Measuring the Young modulus Metals are not very elastic..In practice, they can. only be stretched by about 0.1% of their original length, Beyond this, they become permanently deformed. As a result, some careful thought must be given to getting results that are good enough to give an accurate value of the Young modulus. First, the wire used must be long. The increase in length is proportional to the original length, and so a longer wire gives larger and more measurable extensions. Typically, extensions up to 1mm must be measured for a wire of length 1m. There are two possibilities: use a very long wire, or use a method that allows measurement of exten- sions that are a fraction of a millimetre. Figure 8.11 shows an arrangement that incorpo- rates a vernier scale, which can be read to 0.1mm. One part of the scale (the vernier) is attached to the wire that is stretched; this moves past the scale on the fixed reference wire. Secondly, the cross-sectional area of the wire must be known accurately. The diameter of the wire is measured using a micrometer screw gauge, accurate to 0.01 mm. Once the wire has been loaded in increasing steps, the load must be gradually decreased to ensure that there has been no permanent defor- mation of the wire. Other materials such as glass and many plastics. are also quite stiff, and so it is difficult to measure their Young modulus. Rubber is not as stiff, and strains of several hundred per cent can be achieved. However, the stress-strain graph for rubber is not a straight line, and so the value of the Young modulus found is not very precise. © Figure 8.11 A more precise method for determining the Young modulus of a metal. Describing deformation ‘The Young modulus of a material describes its stiffness. This only relates to the first, straightine section of the stress-strain graph. In this region, the material is behaving in an elastic way, and the straight line means that the material obeys Hooke's law. However, if we continue to increase the load on the material, the graph may cease to be a straight line. Figures 8.12-14 show stress-strain graphs for some typical materials, and we will dis- cuss what these tell us in the paragraphs below. 1 Glass, cast iron (figure 8.12) ‘These materials behave in a similar way. If you increase the stress on them, they stretch slightly. However, there comes a point where ‘© Figure 8.12 Stress-strain graphs for two brittle materials.‘© Figure 8.13 Stress-strain graphs for two ductile materials, the material breaks. Both glass and cast iron are ‘brittle; if you apply a large stress, they shatter. ‘They also show elastic behaviour up to the breaking point; if you apply a stress and then remove it, they return to their original length. = Copper, gold (figure 8.13) ‘These materials show a different form of behav- iour. If you have stretched a copper wire to determine its Young modulus, you will have noticed that, beyond a certain point, the wire stretches more and more and will not return to its original length when the load is removed. It has become permanently deformed. We describe this as plastic deformation. Copper and gold are both metals that can be shaped by stretching, rolling, hammering and squashing. This makes them very useful for making wires, jewellery, etc. They are described as ductile metals. (Pure iron is also a ductile metal. Cast iron has carbon, in it~ it’s really a form of steel ~ and this changes its properties so that it is brittle.) 1m Poly(ethene), Perspex (figure 8.14) Different polymers behave differently, depend- ing on their molecular structure and their temperature. This graph shows two typical forms of stress-strain graph for polymers. Poly(ethene) is easy to deform, as you will know if you have ever tried to stretch a poly(ethene) bag. The material stretches (plastic deforma tion), and then eventually becomes much stiffer and snaps. This is rather like the behaviour of a ductile metal. Perspex behaves in a brittle way. It stretches elastically up to a point, and then it Deforming solids 79 @ Figure 8.14 Stress-strain graphs for two polymeric materials. breaks. In practice, if Perspex is warmed slightly, it stops being brittle and can be formed into a desired shape. ‘To summarise, all materials show elastic behaviour up to the elastic limit; they return to their original length when the load is removed. Brittle materials break at the elastic limit. Ductile materials become permanently deformed if they are stretched beyond the elastic limit; they show plastic behaviour. SAQ 8.7. Use the words elastic, plastic, brittle and ductile to say what the following observations tell you about the materials described. a Ifyou tap a cast iron bath gently with a hammer, the hammer bounces off. IF you hit it hard, the bath shatters. Aluminium drinks cans are made by forcing a sheet of aluminium into a mould at high Dressure. ‘Silly putty’ can be stretched to many times its original length if itis pulled gently and slowly. Fit pulled hard and rapidly, it snaps. Stiffness and strength It is easy to get these two terms confused. Stiffness (measured by the Young modulus) tells ‘us about the elastic behaviour of a material. Most ‘materials can be stretched elastically to a small degree. Strength, however, tells us about how. much stress is needed to break the material. On a80 Forces and motion ceeeeerneeeeeneoeae Stress, ultimate tensile stress breaking point Strain ¢ Figure 8.15 Defining the strength of a material, stress-strain graph (figure 8.15). we look for the point at which the material breaks: the value of stress at this point is called the ultimate tensile stress of the material: ultimate because this is the end of the ‘graph, tensile because the material is being Stretched, and stress because we want to know the force that is required to break it SAQ 8.8. For each of the materials whose stress-strain graphs are shown in figure 8.16, deduce the values of the Young modulus and the ultimate tensile stress. Strain ener doing work You will know this if you have ever used an exercise machine with springs intended to develop your muscles (figure 8.17). Similarly, Stress (MPa) 1504 100 504 0 o1 02 03 4 Strain (16) ‘© Figure 8.16 Stress-strain graphs for three materials. Figure 8.17 Eventually this athlete may have the strength to break the exercise machine. when you push down on the end of a springboard before diving, you are doing work. You transfer energy to the springboard, and you recover the energy when it pushes you up into the air. We call the energy in a deformed solid the strain energy. If the material has been strained elastically (the elastic limit has not been exceeded), the energy can be recovered. If the material has been plastically deformed, some of the work done has gone into moving atoms past one another, and the energy cannot be recovered. (The material ‘warms up slightly) We can find out how much strain energy is involved from the force-extension graph, figure 8.18. We need to use the equation that defines the amount of work done: work done = force x distance moved (in the direction of the force) ‘We consider first the portion of the graph where Hooke’s law is obeyed, OA. The graph in this region is a straight line. The force gradually increases, and the extension increases in propor- tion. There are two ways to find the work done. First, we can think about the average force needed to produce an extension x. The average force is half the final force F, and so we can write strain energy = work done 4 x fimal force x extension = }FxDeforming solids 81 ¢ Figure 8.18 Strain energy is equal to the area under the force-extension graph. ‘The other way to find the strain energy is to recognise that we can get the same answer by finding the area under the graph. The area shaded is a triangle whose area is } x base x height, which again gives strain energy = Fx In fact, this is true whatever the shape of the graph. The strain energy is always equal to the area under the force-extension graph. (Take care: here we are drawing the graph with extension on the horizontal axis.) If the graph is not a straight line, we cannot use the }Fx formula, so we have to resort to counting squares or some other tech- nique to find the answer. ——_—_—_— Worked example Here we need to find the area under the graph up to the elastic Umit. The graph is a straight Une up to x =5mm, F =20N, so the strain energy is the area of triangle OAB: strain energy = $hx = 3 x 20N x 5x 105m. =005) Now we need to add on the area of the rectangle ABCD: work done = 0.05) + 20N x 25 x 10m 05) +05J=055) @ Figure 8.19 For the worked example. SAQ 8.9 Estimate the strain energy stored when a diver presses the end of a springboard down a distance of 30cm using a maximum force of 1500N. Explain why your answer can only be an estimate. SAQ 8.10 Figure 8.20 shows force-extension graphs for two pieces of polymer. For each of the following ques tions, explain how you deduce your answer from the graphs. ‘a Which has the greater stiffness? 1b Which requires the greater force to break it? © Which requires the greater amount of work to be done in order to break it? © Figure 8.20 For SAQ 8.10.82 Forces and motion @ Fora spring, a graph of load against extension is a straight line up to the elastic limit (Hooke’s law). # To describe the behaviour of a material ‘under tensile and compressive forces. we have to draw a graph of stress against strain. The gradient of the initial linear section gives us the Young modulus, which tells us how stiff the material is. Beyond the elastic limit, brittle materials break. Ductile materials show plastic behaviour and become permanently deformed. @ The strain energy in a deformed material can be found from the area under the force-extension graph. 1A force of SN extends a spring elastically by 24cm. a By how much would a force of 2N extend the same spring? b Ifanother, identical, spring was attached to the end of the first spring, by how much would the 5N force ‘extend the combination of springs? ¢ How much work is done by the force in each case? 2 Bungee jumpers use an elasticated rope to halt their fall when they are just a short distance from the ground. Using the idea of stored energy, explain whether heavy jumpers should use a shorter or longer length of rope than lighter jumpers. 3 Inan experiment to measure the Young modulus of glass, a student draws out a glass rod to form a fibre 0.8m in length. Using a travelling microscope, she estimates its diameter to be 040mm. Unfortunately it proves impossible to obtain a series of readings for load and extension. The fibre snaps when a load of 1N is hung on the end, The student judges that the fibre extended by no more than 1mm before it snapped. Use these values to obtain an estimate for the Young modulus of the glass used. Explain how the value might differ from this estimate. —————— eawe ACTH CI SMELL INTECHAPTER 9 Flectric current By the end of this chapter you should be able to: 1 understand electric current as a net flow of charged 2 appreciate the difference between the directions of co electron flow: 3 understand the concept of charge in terms of the product of. 4 recall and use AQ =I At, 5 define the coulomb. Charge on the move Making a current flow Electricity plays a vital part in our lives. We use You will have carried out many practical activities clectricity as a way of transferring energy from in which you make an electric current flow. For place to place - for heating, lighting and making ¢xample. if you connect up a wire to a cell figure things move. Figure 9.1 shows how electricity lights | 92 @ current will flow in the wire. And of course it you make electric currents flow every day of your life ~ when you switch on a light or a stereo, for example, In the circuit of figure 92, the current is shown flowing from the positive terminal of the cell, around the circuit to the negative terminal. This is a scientific convention: current flows from positive to negative, and hence the current may be referred to as conventional current. But what is going on inside the wire? A wire is made of metal. Inside a metal, there are some electrons which are free to move about. We call these conduction electrons, because they up a modern city at night. Electricity is a rather tricky word. In everyday life, its meaning may be rather vague ~ sometimes ‘we use it to mean electric current; at other times, it may mean electrical energy or electrical power. In this chapter and the ones which follow, we will avoid using the word electricity and try to develop the correct usage of these more precise scientific terms. —e © Figure 9.1 We depend on electricity as a convenient way of transferring energy. Here, Hong | @ Figure 9.2. A cell causes a cu ent to flow around a suit Kong is lit up at night by electric lighting. ciElectric current 85 are the particles which allow a metal to conduct an electric current. The atoms of a metal bind tightly together; they usually form a regular array, as shown in figure 93. In a typical metal such as copper or silver, one electron from each atom breaks free to become a conduction electron. The atom remains as a positively charged ion. Since there are equal numbers of free electrons (negative) and ions (positive), the metal has no overall charge - it is neutral. ‘When the cell is connected to the wire, its voltage provides the push to make the conduction electrons flow around the circuit. Since electrons are negatively charged, they flow towards the posi- tive terminal of the cell. This is in the opposite direction to the flow of conventional current. So, although we think of electric current as some- thing that flows from positive to negative, in practice it is often the case that negatively charged particles are flowing ftom negative to positive. (This may seem a bit odd; it comes about because the direction of conventional current was chosen long before anyone had any idea what was going on inside a piece of metal when a current flowed through it.) Note that current is flowing at all points around the circuit as soon as the circuit is com- pleted. We don’t have to wait for charge to travel around from the cell. This is because the charged particles (the electrons) are already present throughout the metal, all round the circu before the cell is connected. Sometimes a current is a flow of positive charges; for example, a beam of protons produced by a particle accelerator. The current flows in the same direction as the particles. Sometimes a current is made up of both positive and negative charges; for example, during electrolysis, This is ¢ Figure 93 In a metal, conduction electrons are free to move around the fixed positive ions. A voltage causes them all to move in the same direction, and so a current flows. © Figure 94 During electrolysis of a solution, both positive and negative electrical charges are free to ‘move. Both contribute to the electric current. the process of making a current flow through a solution. There may be both positive and negative ions in the solution, and these move in opposite directions when a voltage is applied (figure 94). SAQ 9.1 Look at the diagram of figure 9.4. n which direction is the current in the solution flowing (towards the left, or towards the right? Current and charge When charged particles flow past a point, we say that a current is flowing. Electrical current is measured in amperes (A). So how much charge is moving when a current of 1A flows? Charge is measured in coulombs (C). If a cur- rent of 1 flows past a point for 1 second, a charge of 1C has flowed. Similarly, if 2A flows for 1s, 2C of charge have flowed: 2 for 35 is a flow of 6C, and so on. As a word equation, this is: charge = current x time From this the coulomb is defined as follows: ‘One coulomb is the amount of charge which flows past a point when a current of 1 ampere flows for 1 second. ‘We can represent the relationship between charge and current algebraically as follows: A current I flows for a time interval At. The amount of86 Electrons and photons charge which flows during this time is AQ, where: AQ=1At ‘Take care: Think of At as a single symbol, meaning ‘a change in time ¢’ or ‘an interval of time’. It doesn’t mean A x t, Similarly, AQ means ‘a change in charge @. Worked examples We need to find the time interval af in seconds: At = 60 x 60s = 36005 T=10A So the charge which flows is: AQ =I At = 1A x 3600s = 36000C Rearranging AQ =I At gies: =a (orcurrent = With time in seconds we then have: 180 current= 33957 }5A SAQ 9.2. A current of 0.44 flows around a circuit for 15s. How much charge flows around the circuit in this time? SAQ 9.3 ‘What current must flow to supply 150C of charge in 308? Charged particles Electrons are charged particles. They have a tiny negative charge, approximately -1.6 x 10°C. This charge is represented by -¢. This charge is so tiny that you would need about six million million mil- lion electrons to have a charge of one coulomb. Protons are positively charged, with a charge +e, equal and opposite to that of an electron. As far as we know, it is impossible to have charge on its own; charge is always associated with mass. SAQ 9.4. Calculate the number of protons which would have a charge of one coulomb, (Proton charge = +1.6 x 10°C)‘movement of ee positive ions movement of pee negative fons Electric current 87CHAPTER 10 Resistance and resistivity define resistance state Ohm's law; sketch the variation conductor and of a neg detine resistivity; recall and use p = RAIL Electrical resistance Ifyou connect a lamp to a battery, a current will flow and the lamp will light up. But what determines how much current will flow? This depends on two things: = the voltage V of the battery - the greater the voltage, the greater the current that flows; i= the resistance R of the lamp - the greater the resistance, the smaller the current. For the time being, we will think of the voltage of the battery simply as the ‘push’ it provides to make the current flow. A 6V battery provides twice the push of a 3V battery. We will look more care fully at the meaning of voltage in the next chapter. Now we need to think about the meaning of electrical resistance. Just as different batteries provide different voltages, so different lamps have different resistances. If you connect a torch bulb to a 3V battery, it will probably glow brightly. If you connect a car headlamp bulb to the same battery, it will probably glow only dimly. This is because it is designed to work from the car's 12V supply; a 3V battery cannot push a big enough current through the bulb to make it light up fully. ‘The resistance of the headlamp bulb prevents a sufficiently large current from flowing, Similarly, if you connected the 3V battery to a mains light bulb, which has a much higher resistance, it probably would not glow at all. The current passing through its high resistance would be very small indeed. So the resistance of a lamp (or other compo- nent) tells us about how much current will flow through it for a given voltage. We can use this idea to write an equation for the current I that is pushed through a resistance R by a voltage V: voltage ‘resistance vo ioe io current = Tuble 10.1 summarises these quantities and their units. Table 10.1 Basic electrical quantities, their symbols and SI units, Take care to understand the difference between V meaning voltage (in italics) and V meaning volts,Resistance and resistivity 89 nn oe nn Worked example How much current will a 3 battery push through a lamp whose resistance is 15.0? Here we have V = 3V and R = 15 Substituting in T= VIR gives: current So.a current of 0.2 will flow through the lamp. —_—_—<—— SAQ 10.1 ‘Acar headlamp bulb has a resistance of 36. What current will flow through the bulb when itis, connected to the car's 12V baltery? SAQ 10.2 You can buy bulbs of different brightnesses to fit in light fittings at home (figure 10.1). A 100 watt lamp glows more brightly than a 60 watt lamp. Which has the higher resistance? Defining resistance and the ohm ‘We can turn equation 1 (I= V/R) around so that it explains what we mean by the resistance of a ‘component in a circuit: voltage “urrent v resistance = (2) ¢ Figure 10.1 Both of these lamps work from the 230 mains supply, but one has a higher resistance than the other. (See SAQ 10.2.) ‘This says that the resistance of a component tells us about the voltage needed to push a given current through it. For example, a 100 resistor needs 10V to push 1A of current through it. It would take 20V to push 2A through the same resistor, and so on. In other words, the resistance tells us how many ‘volts per amp’ are needed to push current through. ‘The resistance of a component in a circuit is the ratio of the voltage across the component to the current in it. One ohm is one volt per amp: 1Q=1VAt SAQ 10,3 ——___ a How many volts are needed to push 1A through a motor whose resistance is SOW? b_ How many volts are needed to push 2A through the same motor? SAQ 10.4 What is the resistance of a lamp if a current of 0.4 flows through it when it is connected to the 230V mains? Measuring resistance Equation 2 m0 = Vif) defines what we mean by resist ance. From this equation, you can see that, to determine the resistance of a component, we need to measure both the voltage V across it and the current I flowing through it. To measure the curfent we need an ammeter; to measure the voltage, we need a voltmeter. Figure 10.2a on page 90 shows how these should be connected to measure the resistance ofa metallic conductor (such as a length of wire). = The ammeter is connected in series with the conductor, so that the current will flow through it. = The voltmeter is connected across (in parallel with) the conductor, to measure the voltage ‘The voltage is provided by a variable power supply. In principle, you could choose one value of the90 Electrons and photons Hr metallic conductor Voltage V Current I © Figure 102 To determine the resistance of a ‘component, you need to find out how the current through it depends on the voltage across it. voltage and measure the current that flows; in practice, it is better to vary the voltage and meas- ure the current at several different voltages. The results of such a series of measurements is shown graphically in figure 10.2b. Look at the graph of figure 10.2b. (Such a graph is known as an IV characteristic graph.) The points are slightly scattered, but they clearly lie on a straight line. A line of best fit has been drawn. If you extend this line downwards, you will see that it passes through the origin of the graph; in other words, with no voltage applied, no current flows. For a graph like this: voltage current gradient of graph = = resistance © Table 102 Data for SAQ 10.5, So, provided the line passes through the origin, ‘we can find the component's resistance from the gradient of its I/V characteristic graph. SAQ 10.5. Table 10.2 shows the results of an experiment to measure the resistance of a carbon resistor whose resistance is given by the manufacturer as 47.2. + 10%. a Plot a graph to show the IV characteristic of this resistor, b Do the points appear to fall on a straight line which passes through the origin of the graph? © Use the graph to determine the resistance of the resistor. d_ Does the value of the resistance fall within the range given by the manufacturer? Ohm's law For the conductor whose [|V characteristic graph is shown in figure 10.2b, the current which flows through it is proportional to the voltage across it. This means that its resistance doesn't depend on the current or voltage (since Vil is constant). Any component which behaves like this is described as an ohmic conductor, and we say that it obeys Ohm's law: Itis easier to see the significance of this if we consider a non-ohmic conductor. An example is a diode. This is a device which allows electric cur- rent to flow through it more easily in one direc- tion than the other. Nowadays, most diodes are made of semiconductor materials. Figure 10.3 shows the IV characteristic graph for a semiconductor diode. Some points to notice about this graph: ‘& We have included positive and negative values of current and voltage. This is because, when connected one way round (positive voltage), the diode allows current to flow through relatively easily. Connected the other way round (negative voltage), it allows only a tiny current through.@ Figure 103 The current-voltage (iV) characteristic graph for a diode. The graph passes through the origin, but itis not a straight line. A diode does not follow Ohm's law. = For positive voltages, the current increases slowly at first, then more rapidly. Its resistance decreases as the cu From tl obey Ohm's law; it is a non-ohmic conductor int increases. we can conclude that a diode doesn’t Resistance and temperature You should have noted earlier that, for a compo- nent to obey Ohm's law, the temperature must remain constant. You can see why this must be the case by considering the characteristics of a filament lamp. Figure 10.4 shows such a lamp; you can clearly see the wire filament glowing as the current passes through it. Figure 10.5 shows the I[V characteristic graph for a similar lamp. Some points to notice about this graph: = The line passes through the origin (as for an ohmic conductor} = For small currents and voltages, the graph is roughly a straight line. 1 At higher voltages, the line starts to curve. The current which flows is a bit less than we would 1agests have expected from a straight line. This s that the lamp’s resistance has increased. = Also on the graph, we have indicated approxi- mate values of the temperature of the filament From these you may guess that, as the filament gets hotter, its resistance increases, This is what stops the graph from being a straight line The fact that the graph of figure 10.5 is not a straight line tells us that the resistance of the lamp depends on its temperature. Its resistance may increase by a factor as large as ten between when it Resistance and resistivity 91 104 The metal filament in a light bulb glows as the current passes through it. It also feels warm. This shows that the bulb produces both heat and light. T000C 0 5 10 15 Vv) @ Figure 105 ‘The iV characteristic graph for a filament lamp. is cold and when it is brightest (when its tempera- ture may be as high as 1750°C), SAQ 10.6 a. Use the graph in figure 10.5 to find the resistance of the lamp at temperature intervals of 150°C from 100°C to 1000°C b_ Use your values to plot a resistance-temperature graph for the lamp. What does this tell you?92 Electrons and photons ss Figure 10.6 |/V graphs for a wire at two different temperatures ~ see SAQ 10.7 SAQ. 10.7. The two graphs in figure 106 show the I/V graphs of a metal wire at two different temperatures, 6; and 02. a Calculate the resistance of the wire at each temperature. (Check the quantities on the axes) b Which is the higher temperature, 0, or 82? Thermistors ‘These are devices that are designed to have a resistance which changes rapidly with tempera- ture. Thermistors (‘thermal resistors’) are made from metal oxides such as those of manganese and nickel. There are two distinct types: ® The resistance of one type decreases approximately exponentially with increasing temperature. These are called negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors. Ones com monly used in school may have a resistance of many thousands of ohms at room temperature, falling to a few tens of ohms at 100°C. = The resistance of the other type rises abruptly at a definite temperature, usually around 100-150°C. These are called positive temperature coefficient (PTC) thermistors. ‘The change in their resistance with temperature gives thermistors many uses: m= Water temperature sensors in cars and ice sen- sors on aircraft wings ~ if ice builds up on the wings, the thermistor senses this temperature drop and a heater is activated, removing the ice. = Baby alarms - the baby rests on an airfilled pad, and as he or she breathes, air from the pad passes over a thermistor, keeping it cool; if the baby stops breathing, the air movement stops. the thermistor warms up and an alarm sounds. = Fire sensors ~ the rise in temperature activates an alarm. = Overload protection in razor sockets ~ if the razor overheats, the thermistor’s resistance rises rapidly and cuts off the circuit. SAQ 10.8 The graph in figure 10.7 was obtained by measuring the resistance of a particular thermistor as its temperature changed. a Whatis its resistance at (i) 20°C and (i) 45°C? b_ Ativhat temperature is its resistance () 50002 and (ii) 2000.0? © What is its rate of change in resistance with temperature at (i) 20°C, (ii) 45°C, and (iii) 70°C? The origins of resistance To understand a little more about the origins of resistance, it is helpful to look at how the resistance of a pure metal wire changes as its tem- perature is increased. This is shown in the graph of figure 10.8. You will see that the resistance of the pure metal increases gradually as the temperature increases from 0°C to 100°C, Compare this with the graph of figure 10.7 for a thermistor; the ther- mistor’s resistance decreases very dramatically over a narrow temperature rangeResistance and resistivity 93 rr Resistance R(kO) : 0. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 eee ‘Temperature (©) @ Figure 10.7 The resistance of an NIC thermistor decreases as the temperature increases ~ see SAQ 10.8. ‘The graph also shows how the resistance of the ‘metal changes if it is slightly impure. The resist- ance of an impure metal is greater than that of the pure metal, and follows the same gradual upward slope. The resistance of a metal changes in this gradual way over a wide range of tempera- tures - from close to absolute zero up to its melt ing point, which may be over 2000°C. ‘This suggests that there are two factors which affect the resistance of a metal: the temperature, and the presence of impurities. Here is what we picture is happening in a metal when an electric current flows through it (igure 10.) Ina metal, a current is a flow of free electrons. At low temperatures, they can move easily past impure metal pure metal Resistance 0 ti 100 "Temperature (C) @ Figure 108 The resistance of a metal increases gradually as its temperature is increased. The resistance of an impure metal is greater than that of a pure metal. the positive ions (figure 10.9a). However, as the tem- perature is raised, the ions vibrate more and more. The electrons collide with the vibrating ions, and this slows them down. They lose energy (figure 10.96). If the metal contains impurities, some of the atoms will be of different sizes (figure 10.5). Again, this disrupts the free flow of electrons. In colliding with impurity atoms, the electrons lose energy. You can see that electrons tend to lose energy when they collide with vibrating ions or impurity atoms. They give up energy to the metal, so it gets hotter. That is why resistance is often a problem: a current loses energy to the wires it is flowing, through as it has to overcome the resistance of the wires. SAQ 10.9. The resistance of a metal wire changes with tempera- ture. This means that a wire could be used to sense changes in temperature, in the same way that a ther- mistor is used. Suggest one advantage a thermistor has over a metal wire for this purpose; suggest one advantage a metal wire has over a thermistor. Fa0e 2000 HSH @ Figure 10.9 The origins of resistance in a metal. a At low temperatures, electrons flow relatively freely, b At higher temperatures, the electrons are obstructed by the vibrating ions. ¢ Impurity atoms can also block the free flow of electrons.94 Electrons and photons Resistivity ‘The resistance of a wire depends on its size and shape. A long wire has a greater resistance than a short one, provided it is of the same thickness and ‘material. A thick wire has less resistance than a thin one. You can investigate these relationships ‘using conducting putty. You should find that the resistance of a sample depends on: = length | - the longer the specimen, the higher its resistance: = cross-sectional area A - the smaller the area, the greater the resistance. The resistance of a wire also depends on the mate- rial it is made of. Copper is a better conductor than steel, steel is a better conductor than silicon, and so on. So if we are to work out the resistance R of a particular piece of metal, we need to take into account length, area and material. The rele- vant property of the material is its resistivity, for which the symbol is p (rho, Greek letter r). resistivity < length ‘cross-sectional area pl Ron resistance = ‘We can rearrange this equation to give an equation for resistivity: resistance x area length RA ae resistivity = Values of the resistivities of some typical materials are shown in table 10.3. Notice that the units of resistivity are ohm- metres (Q mj; this is not the same as ohms per metre. Worked example Using the equation for resistance, and taking the value for p from table 115: resistence eaeMy x lena ‘area 49.0 x 10° Qm 25 x 107m? So the wire has a resistance of 5.19. —— SAQ 10.10 Calculate the lengths of 0.5 mm diameter manganin wire needed to make resistance coils with resistances of: 212, b52, ¢ 102 (Use the resistivity value quoted in table 10.5) SAQ 10.11. 1.cm! of copper is drawn out into the form of a long, wire of cross-sectional area 4 x 10-7 m?, Calculate its resistance, 4 Nichrome ~ an alloy of nickel, copper and aluminium used in electric fires because it does not axidise at 1000 °C. Manganin ~ an alloy of 84% copper, 12% manganese and 4% nickel. Pureka (constantan) an alloy of 60% copper and 40% nickel. 4 Poly(tetrafluoroethene) or Teflon. © Table 10.3 Resistivities of various materials.Resistance and resis See a ee eee See | SUMMARY ‘The resistance of a component is the ratio of the voltage between its ends to the current flowing through it: R = Vil. ‘@ Acomponent has a resistance of 1Q if a current of 1 flows through it when there is a voltage of 1V between its ends. Aconductor obeys Ohm’s law if the current in the conductor is proportional to the voltage across it [provided the temperature remains constant). Its IV characteristic graph is a straight line passing through the origin. @ A semiconductor diode allows current to flow readily in oné direction only. © .As the temperature of a metal increases, so does its resistance. @ A thermistor is a device which shows a rapid change in resistance over a narrow ‘temperature range. © The resistivity p of a material is defined as p=RA/I, where R is the resistance of a sample of the material, A is its cross- sectional area and lis its length. LEN ee EEE Olney ater! 1 Anelectronic component allows a current of 10mA to flow through it when a volt- age of 2V is applied. When the voltage is increased to 8Y, the current which flows is 60mA. Does the component obey Ohm's Jaw? (Give numerical values to support your answer) 2 Astudent connects a circuit with an NTC thermistor, a lamp and a battery in series. The lamp glows dimly. The student warms the thermistor with a hair drier. What change will the student notice in the brightness of the lamp? Explain your answer. 3. The graph of figure 10.10 shows the IV characteristics for two circuit compo- nents, a lamp and a coil of steel wire. a Which curve relates to which component? b_ At what voltage do both have the same resistance? © Figure 10.10 For question 3. 4 Aim length of copper wire has a resistance of 0.5. a What will be the resistance of a 5m length of the same wire? b_ What will be the resistance of a1m length of copper wire having half the thickness of the original wire? 5 A piece of steel wire has a resistance of 10. Its stretched to twice its original length. What will its resistance become? (Take care: the answer is not quite as obvious as it may at first seem.) NSCHAPTER 11 Voltage, energy and power "2 define potential difference and the volt in terms of energy transfer; 3 recall and use V= WIQ and V= Pil where W = energy transferred and P= | 4 recall and use P= /?R and P= VR; ‘ 5 recall anduse W=1Vi; 6 understand and use the kilowatt-hour (kWh) as a unit of energy. The meaning of voltage So far, we have used the term voltage in a rather casual way. It is the ‘push’ which makes a current flow through something. You may think of a volt- age simply as something measured by a voltmeter. In everyday life, the word is used in a less scientific sense ~ for example, ‘A big voltage can go through you and kill you.’ In this chapter, we will consider a bit more carefully just what we ‘mean by voltage in relation to electric circuits. Look at the simple circuit in figure 11.1. The three voltmeters are measuring three voltages: TAY aroee (ug power BU anne sans that each voltmeter is connected across the across the two resistors. You will not be surprised Component to measure the voltage across the to see that the voltage across the power supply is component. equal to the sum of the voltages across the resistors. However, it is important to realise that the 12V measured across the power supply is a different kind of voltage from the other two voltages. To see why, we need to think about the flow of current around the circuit. In chapter 9 we saw that an electric current is a flow of electric charge. Figure 11.2 shows the same circuit as in figure 11.1, but here we are looking at the movement of one coulomb (1) of charge round the circuit. Energy is transferred to the charge by the power supply. The charge flows round the circuit, transferring some of its energy |g Figure 112. Energy transfers as 1 of charge flows to the first resistor, and the rest to the second round a circuit. © Figure 11.1 Measuring voltages in a circuit. NoteVoltage, energy and power 97 resistor. (Of course, at all times there is current flowing at all points in the circuit, transferring ‘energy to the resistors. Here, we are considering the movement of a single coulomb of the charge flowing round the circuit.) ‘The voltages measured by the voltmeters tell us about these energy transfers. We distinguish between two types of voltage: a voltage where the charge is losing energy is a potential difference, V. a voltage where the charge is gaining energy is an electromotive force, F. 4 ‘Thus, the voltage across the power supply is an electromotive force or e.m.f., while the voltage across each resistor is a potential difference or p.d. Electromotive force is not a very helpful name, since emis a voltage (measured in volts), not a force (which would be measured in newtons). However, the name should remind you that an emf. is a voltage that supplies the energy to move a charge around the circuit. Voltage and energy By comparing figures 11.1 and 11.2, you will see the relationship between volts and joules. A 12V power supply gives 12] of energy to each coulomb of charge that it pushes round the circuit. When one coulomb of charge moves through a p.d. of 4¥, it transfers 4] of energy, and so on. At its simplest, when 1C of charge moves through a p.d. of 1V, it transfers 1] of energy. So a potential difference tells us about the energy transferred by each coulomb of charge. Each volt represents a joule of energy transferred by each coulomb of charge. Hence a volt is a joule per coulomb, 1V = 1JC". ‘We can write this relationship in symbols: energy transferred potential difference = aie Electromotive force E is defined in the same way. ‘The energy W transferred to a charge Qby an em£. Fis given by: W=QE or ele © Figure 11.3 Some sources of ex. ~ cells, batteries, a power supply and a dynamo. Sources of ef. (figure 11.3) are often labelled with their emf. For example, a 1.5V cell transfers 1.5] of energy to each coulomb of charge that it pushes around a circuit. A 12V power supply sup- plies 12] to each coulomb, and the 230V mains transfers 230] to each 1 of charge. SAQ. 11.1 $$$ How much energy is transferred to 1 of charge: a_ bya 6V battery, and b_ by a SkV high-voltage supply? SAQ 17.2 ‘A 12V battery drives a current of 2 round a circuit for one minute, ‘a How much charge flows around the circuit in this time? b How much energy is transferred to the charge? ¢ How much energy does the charge transfer to the components in the circuit? SAQ 11.3 ———$_$__________— Describe the energy transfers that occur in 1s in the rcuit shown in figure 11.4. © Figure 11.4 For AQ 113.98 Electrons and photons Electrical power We use nea ay to transfer energy from place to place. The rate at which energy is transferred is known as power, measured in watts (W). (If you are not sure about this, refer back to chapter 6 where we looked at the concept of power in rela- tion to forces and work done.) energy transferred Power" time taken ‘The rate at which energy is transferred in an elec- tric circuit is related to two quantities: m the current I which is flowing ~ the greater the current, the greater the power: 1m the potential difference V - the greater the pd, the greater the power. So we have power = current x potential difference PHIxV ‘This should make sense: the current tells you how many coulombs of charge flow past each second, and the voltage tells you how many joules of energy each coulomb transfers. Hence the two multiplied together tell you how much energy is transferred each second. You may find it easier to remember this relationship in terms of units: ‘watts = amps x volts Rearranging the equation P =I x V we have: watts v or amps In other words, the voltage across a component tells us how many watts of power are transferred for every amp of current flowing through it. Worked example power P=Ix V=8A x 230V = 1840W Deriving the equation for power The equation which defines what we mean-by potential difference energy transferred = charge x p.d. W=QxV If we divide both sides by time t, we get: energy transferred _ charge x p.d. time time w Wiaey fooen Now Wt is power P, and Q/ tis current J. Hence: Pp xv (Take care not to confuse W for energy transferred or work done with W for watts.) SAQ 11.4. What current flows through a 60W light bulb when itis connected to a 250V mains supply? SAQ 11.5 A large power station supplies electricity to the grid at a voltage of 25 kV. At maximum power, a current of 40kA flows from the station, What is its maximum power output? Power and resistance A current I flowing through a resistor of resistance R transfers energy to it. The p.d. V across the resis- tor is given by V= IR. Combining this with the ‘equation for power P = IV gives us three forms of the equation for power: Which form of the equation we use in any particular situation depends on the information we have available to us. This is illustrated in the following worked example which relates to a power station and the power lines which lead from it (figure 115}