LM5 - Newton's Laws of Motion and Applications - GPHYS1

Module 5
Newton’s Laws of
Motion and Applications
• Differentiate contact and noncontact forces
• Draw free-body diagrams
• Define inertial frames of reference
• Distinguish mass and weight
• Identify action-reaction pairs
• Apply Newton’s 1st law to obtain quantitative and
qualitative conclusions about the contact and
noncontact forces acting on a body in equilibrium
• Differentiate the properties of static friction and kinetic
friction
• Apply Newton’s 2nd law and kinematics to obtain
quantitative and qualitative conclusions about the
velocity and acceleration of one or more bodies, and
the contact and noncontact forces acting on one or
more bodies
• Solve problems using Newton’s Laws of motion
Dynamics of Motion
Forces
Free Body Diagrams
Law of Inertia: 1st Law
Law of Acceleration: 2nd Law
Law of Interaction: 3rd Law
Applying Newton’s Laws
Frictional Forces
Dynamics of Motion
We now connect our discussion with kinematics to dynamics
Dynamics - tackles how motion is brought about
- specifically, how forces and interactions
bring an object to motion
General note: we will be dealing with 2-D motion to

effectively demonstrate physical phenomena
Forces
What is force?
- a push or a pull
- due to interaction of objects
- causes a change in motion
Force is a vector quantity, measured in units of Newton

(SI unit for force). m
1N   1kg  2 
s 
Types of Forces
1. Contact forces - involves direct contact
between two bodies
2. Noncontact forces - action-at-a-distance forces
- there is no contact but there
is an interaction
Contact forces Noncontact forces
applied force
tension gravitational
normal electrical
frictional magnetic
spring
air resistance
Frictional force - exerted between surfaces as an
objects moves across it
Tension - force transmitted through a wire, rope,
or cable
Normal - force exerted on an object when it is on
top of another object
Air resistance - force exerted on object as it travels
through the air (usually neglected due
to relatively low magnitude)
Applied Force - force on an object being pushed
or pulled directly
Spring Force - force exerted by a stretched or
compressed spring to an object
attached to it
Gravitational Force - force of gravity that all objects on
Earth experience
Free Body Diagrams
What is a free body diagram (FBD)?
- a diagram showing all the forces acting on an
object
- we observe the object as separate, “free” from
its surroundings
- for example, we analyze the forces acting on a
book on a table
- we isolate the book as a free body
How to draw free body diagrams?
1. Focus on the object to be analyzed
2. Treat the object as a particle and draw it as a point
- We assume all forces are acting at this point
3. Draw all forces acting on the object from that point
- Must use proper vector illustration (magnitude
and direction)
Examples
Law of Inertia: 1 st Law
Newton’s 1st Law of Motion: Law of Inertia
“An object will remain in its current state of motion unless

acted upon by an external force.”
Inertia - natural tendency of an object to resist any
change in its equilibrium state
In simple terms,
- Objects at rest remain at rest
- Objects in motion remains in the same motion
- UNLESS an external force is applied that can
change its equilibrium state
When we talk about equilibrium state, we refer to its
unchanging state of motion.
In general, state of motion states how the object is moving. It

can be at rest, or moving with constant speed, or moving
with increasing speed.
For equilibrium state of motion, since the motion is not
changing, the object does not experience acceleration.
This means that the object is either

1. At rest; OR
2. Moving at a constant rate (that is, constant velocity)
There are conditions to achieve the equilibrium state, which
we refer as the two conditions of equilibrium
Conditions of Equilibrium
1. The net force experienced by the object must be zero.
- We refer to this as translational equilibrium
2. The net torque experienced by the object must be zero.
- We refer to this as rotational equilibrium (to be
discussed in detail in Module 8)
We will focus on the first condition for this discussion.

First Condition of Equilibrium
- Quantitatively,

Fnet  0 F x 0 F
y 0
Inertial frame of reference
• a frame of reference in which the law of inertia holds.
• there are non-inertial reference frames, which can be
observed as accelerating from an inertial reference frame
• for non-inertial reference frames, the Law of Inertia will
not hold
We approximate the surface of the Earth as an inertial
reference frame.
Law of Acceleration: 2nd Law
Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion: Law of Acceleration
“A net force acting on an object causes it to accelerate in the

same direction as the net force.”
For 1st law, an object is not accelerating if it experiences
zero net force.
What happens if the net force is not zero?

It turns out the object under a constant net force
experiences constant acceleration. And as the
magnitude of net force increases, the magnitude of
acceleration increases.
We conclude that the net force experience by the object

is directly proportional to its acceleration.
We can relate the net force to the acceleration using the
quantity “inertial mass” or simply, mass of an object.
This gives us the equation
 
Fnet  ma
In components,
F x  ma x Fy  ma y
Some notes:
1. Mass is the quantitative measure of inertia. Higher
mass means higher “resistance” to motion.
2. The direction of the net force and the acceleration is
the same
3. Take note that we are talking about net force acting on
the object, which is the sum of all forces acting on the
object.
Weight
• application of Newton's Second Law
• force acting on an object due to gravity
• same as gravitational force
• since gravity is always acting downward, weight is
always directed downward
W  mg
Mass vs. weight
• mass is constant
• weight varies with location (since the force of gravity
varies in different locations in space)
• on Earth, we approximate the value of earth's
gravitational pull to be
 m 
g  9 . 81  2 
 s 
Law of Interaction: 3 rd Law
Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion: Law of Interaction
“For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.”

For every action
• If object A pushes (or exerts a force) on object B
there is an equal
• there is a force with same magnitude
but opposite
• acting in the opposite direction
reaction.
• that object B exerts on object A
From that we can infer the following:
1. No force exists unless there is interaction of objects
2. Two bodies must be involved: body 1 exerts a force
𝑭𝟏→𝟐 and a body 2 that counters with a force 𝑭𝟐→𝟏 .
These forces are equal in magnitude but act in
 In equation,
opposite directions. 
F12   F21
3. We call these action-reaction pairs
From that we can infer the following:
 
3. We call these forces action-reaction pairs.
F12   F21
Applying Newton’s Laws
The laws of motion can be applied to the following:
1. Understanding the equilibrium of particles
• We employ Newton’s 1st law
2. Understanding the dynamics of particles
• We employ Newton’s 2nd law and our kinematic equations
Frictional Forces
We will now apply the laws of motion to understand
motion of objects experiencing frictional forces.
No surface is perfectly smooth. At an atomic level,
surfaces can be rough and jagged.
For an object to slide across surfaces, it must overcome
the resistance of those tiny bumps.
This is the origin of the force we call FRICTION.

Two types of friction:
1. Static Friction
2. Kinetic Friction
STATIC FRICTION
When there is no relative motion, an object being moved with
an applied force experiences an equal and opposite friction
force. This is called the static friction force 𝒇𝒔
f s  s N
Where 𝝁𝒔 is the coefficient of static friction and N is the

magnitude of normal force.
KINETIC FRICTION
When there is relative motion, an object being moved with an
applied force experiences an opposite friction force called
the kinetic friction force 𝒇𝒌
f k  k N
Where 𝝁𝒌 is the coefficient of kinetic friction and N is the

magnitude of normal force.
COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION
The coefficient of friction varies
since the different surfaces have
different levels of “smoothness”.
This dimensionless quantity is
dependent on the material and the
surfaces in contact.
These values also vary from static to
kinetic friction since a relatively
higher force is needed to overcome
the static friction force than kinetic
friction force.
To visualize, it is harder to push a box

at rest (to counter static friction force)
than to push it for it to keep moving
(to counter kinetic friction force).
• Resnick, D., Halliday, R., & Krane, K. S. (1991). Physics
(4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
• Tipler, P. A., Mosca, G. P., Tipler, P. A., Tipler, P. A., &
Tipler, P. A. (2003). Physics for scientists and engineers.
New York: W.H. Freeman.
• Walker, J. S. (2010). Physics (4th ed.). Addison-Wesley.
• Young, H. D. (2012). Sears & Zemansky's College
Physics (9th ed.). Addison Wesley Longman.
• Young, H. D., & Freedman, R. A. (2007). University
Physics with modern Physics (12th ed.). Boston, MA:
Addison-Wesley.

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Module 5

General note: we will be dealing with 2-D motion to

Force is a vector quantity, measured in units of Newton

“An object will remain in its current state of motion unless

In general, state of motion states how the object is moving. It

This means that the object is either

We will focus on the first condition for this discussion.

“A net force acting on an object causes it to accelerate in the

What happens if the net force is not zero?

We conclude that the net force experience by the object

“For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.”

This is the origin of the force we call FRICTION.

Where 𝝁𝒔 is the coefficient of static friction and N is the

Where 𝝁𝒌 is the coefficient of kinetic friction and N is the

To visualize, it is harder to push a box

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