MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

SECONDARY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME

CONTENT

Aristotle

For nearly 2000 years the scientific ideas of the ancient Greeks, particularly
those of Aristotle were learnt and accepted without question. Aristotle (384 –
322 BCE.) was a pupil of Plato and tutor of Alexander the Great. Aristotle
invented a logical way of presenting an argument. Starting with agreed
assumptions, a series of ‘if…then…’ steps led to a conclusion that was
decisive. Many of Aristotle’s ideas were, however, wrong because they were
based on false assumptions which had not been tested experimentally.

One such fallacy perpetrated by Aristotle was the notion that the force applied to a body determined
its velocity, that is, 𝐹 ∝ 𝑉. He premised his arguments merely on the following observations:

1. To pull a Chariot at a greater speed required more horses which provided a greater force
2. A moving body comes to rest when the force on it is removed

However, Aristotle’s observations were of real-life situations, with friction. If friction is negligible,
an object will accelerate when pushed along a level surface by a constant force. There is no force
that results in a unique velocity for the object and therefore Aristotle’s ‘law of motion’, 𝐹 ∝ 𝑣,
cannot be correct. His theory was eventually discredited and replaced by that of Newton.

pg. 140
 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
SECONDARY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME
GRADE 10
PHYSICS
Newton’s Laws of Motion

Perhaps the best known of Newton’s works are his laws of motion. Here Newton’s real
achievement lies in his success in showing that all forms of motion, however different, could be
described by one system of laws. These laws could describe the parabolic path of a cricket ball hit
high in the air, the elliptical orbits of the planets and satellites or the free fall of an apple.

First law of motion

A body continues in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless acted on by a resultant force

Newton’s first law is about the inertia of an object. The inertia of matter is the ‘laziness’ of matter,
or the tendency of a mass to resist changed in its motion. Inertia makes an object difficult to start
or stop moving, difficult to change its direction of motion or difficult to accelerate.

e.g. A spaceship in deep space does not use its engines to keep moving. Away from the influences
of gravity, a spaceship moves at a constant speed in a straight line. When it uses its engines, the
ejected exhaust gases apply a force to the spaceship to change its speed or its direction.

Second law of motion

The rate of change of momentum of a body is proportional to the applied force and takes place
in the direction of the force

To understand this law a simple experiment can be facilitated between a trolley and a ticker timer.
The simplest form of Newton’s second law is:
Force is directly proportional to mass x acceleration, 𝐹 ∝ 𝑚𝑎. The equivalence of rate of change
of momentum to F = ma is shown below:
𝑚𝑣 − 𝑚𝑢
𝐹𝑅 =
𝑡
𝐹𝑅 is the resultant force; m is the mass; 𝑢 is the initial velocity; 𝑣 is the final velocity; 𝑡 is the time
of action of force and 𝑎 is acceleration.
𝑚 (𝑣 − 𝑢 )
𝐹𝑅 =
𝑡

pg. 141
 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
SECONDARY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME
GRADE 10
PHYSICS
𝑣−𝑢
From kinematics, we know =𝑎
𝑡

Thus: 𝐹𝑅 = 𝑚𝑎
Third law of motion

If body A exerts a force on body B, then body B exerts an equal but oppositely directed force on
body A. Simply put, every action has an equal but oppositely directed reaction.

We have already seen that when a force acts there are always two objects involved. A force can
best be described as the action of object A on object B. Newton was the first person to realize that
forces always come in pairs and that a single force is an impossibility.
For example: When you lean against a wall you are pushing the wall and the wall is pushing back
at you. The push of the wall is provided by a contact force at its surface. Your push is called the
action force and the contact force of the wall is called the reaction force.

Figure 1 showing applications of Newton’s laws of motion

pg. 142
 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
SECONDARY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME
GRADE 10
PHYSICS
From Newton’s 1st law, if the resultant force on a body is zero, then one of the following is true:
a) The body is at rest OR
b) The body is moving at constant velocity
The net force is therefore zero in each of the following cases:
 A hummingbird hovering above a flower
 A raindrop falling at constant terminal velocity
 A car moving at constant velocity in a straight line

REFERENCES:
 Avison, J., & Petheram, L. (2014). Physics for CSEC (2nd ed.). Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd.

 DeFreitas, P. (2015). Concise Revision Course CSEC Physics. London: Collins.

 Duncan, T. (2013). Physics for CSEC examination (5th ed.). London: Hodder Education.

 Farley, A., & Trotz, C. (2014). Physics for CSEC Examinations (3rd ed.). (M. Taylor, Ed.) London:
Macmillan.

 Lambert, N., & Santos, N. L. (2000). Physics for CXC (2nd ed.). Essex: Heinemann.

pg. 143