FORCE AND NEWTON’S LAWS REVIEW

To Begin: http:/phetcolorado.edu -> HTML 5 SIMs -> Forces and Motion Basics

Part I - Newton’s First Law

Choose the “Motion” window to start the simulation

Make sure the boxes that say “Force”, “Values” and “Speed” are checked!

a. Apply a force of 50 N right to the box. Describe the motion of the box using
physics terms (i.e. velocity, acceleration, displacement). Refer to the
speedometer in your answer. As the speedometer’s number was increasing
the velocity was increasing and the acceleration was constant. The
displacement is increasing to the right.

b. Reset the scenario (don’t forget to check forces, speed again). Apply a force
of 50 N to the right for about 5 seconds then reduce the applied force to zero
(the man should stop pushing). Don’t reset the scenario. Describe the motion
of the box. Refer to the speedometer in your answer. As the number on the
speedometer stays the same the velocity is constant, and the acceleration is
0. The displacement is increasing to the right.

c. With the object moving to the right, apply a force of 50N to the left.
Describe the motion of the box. Object should slow down

Summary

Newton’s First Law of Motion States “An object at rest stays at rest and an object
in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless
acted upon by an unbalanced force.” Explain how your observations in a - d
support this Law. Unless some other force is acting opposite to the motion then the
object stays in motion. If there is no force acting on the object, then it stays at rest.
If there is a force opposite to the motion, then it will eventually stop.

Part II - Newton’s Second Law

a. Reset the sim, don’t forget to check force, values and speed again. Remove
the box and place a garbage can on top of the skateboard. Using your
 timer/phone, measure the amount of time it takes to reach maximum speed
using a force of 50 N. Try this again with forces of 100N, and 200N.

Applied Force (N) Time To Max Speed (s)

1 min 20 sec

50
40sec

100
20 sec

200

b. Reset the sim, check force, values, speed and the masses boxes this time.
Set the applied force to 200 N Right. Using your timer/phone measure the
amount of time it takes to reach maximum speed. Repeat with two crates,
one crate and a garbage can, and a refrigerator. Record your findings!

Object – Mass (kg) Time To Max Speed (s)

10

50
20

100
30

150
40

200

Summary

Newton’s Second Law states “The acceleration of an object as produced by a net

force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same
direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.”
Explain how your observations in both a and b support this Law. The heavier the
object the longer it takes to reach a certain speed. The heavier the force applied, the
larger the acceleration.

Part III - Friction’s Effects

The behavior of the skateboard in Part I and part II were not very realistic because
friction was not present. At the bottom of the screen is a simulation that includes
friction. Select this simulation.

a. Set friction to “none”. Notice how the screen changed. Why do you think the
app designers did that? When there is no friction it is easier to slide an object
and sliding something on ice is very easy so to show that they put ice as the
floor to slide the skateboard on.

b. Make sure that only speed box is checked.

i. Apply a force to get the box to about half of it’s maximum speed, then
remove the force.

ii. While the box is moving, move the friction slider to 1/2 way.

What happened to the box? The box slowed down and eventually it stopped.
Part IV - Back to Newton’s Second Law

Reset the Friction app. Make sure Forces and Speed are checked.

a. Apply a force of 50 N. Describe the movement of the box.

The box does not move.

b. Apply a force of 100 N. Describe the movement of the box.

The box does not move.

c. Apply a force of 150 N. Describe the movement of the box.

The box starts moving.

d. Check the box that says, “Sum of Forces”. Repeat procedures a, b, and c.
What was different about c?

The frictional force was less than the applied force

Part V: Friction in Detail

a. Reset the app. Check the force and speed box. Apply 50 N of force to the
crate. Slowly click (in 50 N increments) to increase the amount of applied
force until the crate starts to move/accelerate. Note the range of force values
when the crate first started to move. Record this range below (e.g. starts
moving somewhere between 0 and 50 N). It starts moving around 125.

b. Reset the app. Repeat the steps in “a”. Once you have just made the crate
move do not adjust the force any higher. Allow the block to move with this
constant force for 2.0 seconds. Now reduce the force by 50 N. What does the
crate start doing? Why is it having that type of motion? The box decelerates
because now the frictional force is more than the applied force.
c. Reset the app. Check the speed, force, sum of forces and values boxes.
Adjust the value of the applied force using single Newton increments to
determine the exact force required to make the crate move. Mentally note the
value of this force so you can record it after in the space below. Now keep
increasing the value of the applied force in large 50 N or small single
Newton increments. What happens to size of the friction force? What is the
value of the friction force now compared to the applied force? The size of
the frictional force decreases as the box starts moving because of kinetic
friction force. It is 94N

d. Repeat step c and after the block has accelerated for 3.0 seconds reduce the
applied force to 0 N. What happens to the size of the friction force after the
applied force goes to 0 N? Does the force of friction change while moving?

Until the box stops, we can see that the frictional force stays the same. After
the box stops the frictional force disappears.