Name: ______________________________ Class Period: ____________

Forces and Newton’s Laws Test- Study Guide

Definitions

velocity The speed and direction of a moving object

acceleration The rate at which the velocity of an object changes

A push or pull; Measured in Newtons (N)

force
1N=1kg*m/s2

inertia The tendency of an object to resist a change in motion

motion A change in an object’s position relative to a reference point

net force The sum of all forces acting on an object

THE LAWS: Write Newton’s 3 laws of motion in the chart below

Newton’s 1st Law of An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion as long as
Motion the forces are balanced

Part 1: When an unbalanced force acts on an object it will acceleration in the direction of the
Newton’s 2nd Law of
applied force
Motion
Part 2: Force = mass * acceleration F=m*a

Newton’s 3rd Law of When an object applies a force to another object, the second object exerts an equal force in the
Motion opposite direction back onto the first object.

Use the graph to answer the following FOUR questions:

1. How long was the object stopped? 5 seconds
2. How far did the object travel between 2 seconds and 4
seconds? 2 meters
3. What was the average speed of the object in the first 10
seconds? Average Speed = total distance / total time
5m / 10s = 0.5 m/s
4. What did the object do from 10-13 seconds? Traveled
backwards back to the starting position

5. When is the velocity the GREATEST on a position vs. time

graph?
A. When the line is flat
B. When the line is steepest
C. When the line has a low slope
6. What is the speed of an object at rest? 0 m/s
7. What is the difference between speed and velocity? Speed is the distance an object travels in a
unit of time. Velocity is the speed WITH direction.

8. How do you find average speed? Average Speed = total distance / total time
9. What is the formula for acceleration?
Name: ______________________________ Class Period: ____________
10. You are traveling in a car that is moving at a velocity of 20 m/s. You have to slam on brakes to avoid a
dog in the road. You slow to 5 m/s. If your acceleration is -3 m/s2, how long did it take you to slow to 5
m/s? We want to know the time.
vi= 20 m/s
vf= 5 m/s
a= -3 m/s2

11. Car enthusiasts time how fast their car can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph. In science, we use 0 to 27
meters per second. Find the acceleration of a car that goes from 0 m/s to 27 m/s in 8.0 s.
vi= 0 m/s
vf= 27 m/s
t= 8.0 s

12. What are the three ways to accelerate?

1) Speed Up 2) Slow Down 3) Change Direction

13. What is the difference between positive and negative acceleration?

Positive acceleration means an object is speeding up
Negative acceleration means an object is slowing down

14. Match the following numbers to the quantity they measure

_____C____ 5 mi/hr Northeast
_____B____ 5 m/s
_____C____ 5 m/s Northeast A. Acceleration
_____A____ 5 m/s 2 B. Speed
_____B____ 5 mi/hr C. Velocity
_____A____ -5 m/s2

15. Use the image to the right to answer. Dillon and Ryan
want to see how fast a bowling ball can accelerate. Dillon
bowls the ball and Ryan drops a bean bag at the at the bowling
ball’s position at each second. The dots represent the position
of bean bags at each second. Which image shows a bowling
ball that is SLOWING down?
A. Image X
B. Image Y
C. Image Z The bowling ball is traveling a shorter
distance each second.

16. If we know the time it takes for 4 different buggies to

accelerate from 0 to 60 mph, what can we calculate?
A. The exact speed of each buggy at 2 seconds
B. Acceleration of each buggy
C. How long it will take to stop the buggies
Name: ______________________________ Class Period: ____________
17. A bicyclist is traveling at 10.0 m/s. She slows down at a constant rate for a time of 2.5 s. How far does the
cyclist travel during those 2.5 seconds before she stops?
We want to know distance, d d = v * t
v= 10 m/s d = 10 m/s * 2.5 s
t = 2.5 s d = 25 m

18. Bobbi is going to visit Areej. Areej lives 5 miles North of Bobbi’s house. Bobbi gets distracted while listening to
music and accidentally drives 10 miles North. She turns around and finally makes it to Areej’s house. The
whole trip took her 20 minutes.
A. What is the total distance traveled by Bobbi’s car in this situation? 15 miles

B. What is the displacement of Bobbi’s car during this whole trip? 5 miles

C. What is the average speed of Bobbi’s car from 0 to 20 minutes?

15 miles / 20 minutes = 0.75 miles/minute

19. When a balanced force acts on an object that is at rest the object will remain at rest.
20. When a balanced force acts on an object that is traveling at 5 m/s the object will continue moving in the
same direction with the same speed of 5 m/s.
21. What will happen to an object when an unbalanced force acts on it? The object at rest will begin to move
in the direction of the applied force. The object moving at 5 m/s will speed up.

22. Use the image to help you.

--The man and his bumper car together have a mass of 200 kg.
--The woman and her bumper car together have a mass of 185 kg.
--The man’s bumper car applies a constant force in a straight line that is equal to the
force of friction of the woman’s bumper car.
What will happen?
A. The woman’s bumper car will move with constant velocity
B. The woman’s bumper car will move in a circular path
C. The woman’s bumper car will speed up at a constant rate.

23. Describe the motion for each of the diagrams in the chart below.
The object has a net force = 0 The object has a net force = 0.
in both sets of directions. No motion
No motion

Object will move with a force Object will move with a force of
of 5N to the right. 20 to the right.

24. Which object will have the greatest inertia?

A. A bowling ball C. A bouncy ball
B. A refrigerator D. A pinecone

25. What is the unit used to measure a force? Newtons (N)

26. Why do you fall forward in a car when the driver slams on brakes? You have intertia meaning you resist
any change in your motion. You were in motion and your body attempts to stay in motion after
the car abruptly stops.
Name: ______________________________ Class Period: ____________
27. A car takes a sharp curve at 45 mph, if the car has “bald” tires with no tread, the driver can lose control
because there is not enough FRICTION between the tires and the road.

28. What is the formula used in Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion? F = m* a

29. If the force on an object was increased, then the object’s acceleration would increase. If you push harder
on the object, then it will move faster.
30. If the mass of an object was increased, then the object’s acceleration would decrease. Heavier things are
harder to move quickly.
31. A soccer player kicks a 0.5 kg ball and accelerates it at 50 m/s 2. What force does the player apply to the ball?

Mass = 0.5 kg
Acceleration= 50 m/s2
F = m*a F = (0.5 kg)(50 m/s2) F = 25 kg*m/s2 F= 25N

1N=1kg*m/s2

32. A 10 kg bowling ball would require what force to accelerate it down an alleyway at a rate of 3 m/s 2?

Mass = 10 kg
Acceleration= 3 m/s2
F = m*a F = (10 kg)(3 m/s2) F = 30 kg*m/s2 F= 30N

1N=1kg*m/s2

33. What is friction? The force that opposes the motion of an object. It always acts in the opposite
direction from the object’s motion.
 Give an example of friction: When you try to slide heavy furniture across the floor, you
have to overcome the friction to furniture has against the floor.

34. What is gravity? The attractive force between two object that depends on the masses of the
objects and the distance between them.
 What two things affect gravity? mass and distance
Objects that are REALLY massive and REALLY close together have large gravitational force
Objects that are have TINY mass and are FAR away have small gravitational force.

 Object B is 4 times more massive than object A. Object A is 2 times further from object C. Which
object has the greatest gravitational force on object C? Object B because it has greater mass and
a smaller distance.

A B C

A man has a mass of 66 kg on Earth.

35. What is his weight in Newtons on Earth? (Acceleration due to Gravity on Earth is ~10m/s2) W= 66N
W=m*g
W = 66 kg * 10 m/s2
W = 66 kg*m/s2
W= 66N
36. What is his mass on the moon? His mass on the moon is 66 kg. Mass doesn’t change with location.
You have the same mass no matter what planet you’re on. Your weight changes because
every planet/moon has a different force of gravity.

37. Why would his WEIGHT be much lower on the moon? Weight changes depending on the gravity of
the planet/moon you’re on. The moon has less mass than the Earth, so it has smaller
gravitational force.