UNIT 1 MECHANICS: FORCES AND NEWTON LAWS

You must know how to:

 Draw a sketch of parallel and perpendicular vectors.
 Determine the resultant vector graphically using the head and tail method as
well as by calculation
 Resolve a vector into its parallel and perpendicular components.

You must remember:

 Newton’s Laws and how to apply them
 Different kinds of forces
 Force diagrams and free body diagrams

1.1 Revision: Vectors

A vector is a quantity that has both magnitude (size) and direction
 We can use bold type to represent a vector, B, or an arrow above the letter
⃗
B.
 Vectors may be added or subtracted graphically by laying them head to tail/
head to head on set of axes.

⃗ ⃗= ⃗
A+ C D ..

⃗
A−⃗
C =⃗
E
1.2 FORCES
Subtraction When objects interact with each other, they exert forces on each other.
Objects exert push [repulsion] or pull [attraction] forces on each other. Thus
we say,
. Force is an action [a push or pull] exerted on an object.
 a vector quantity [it has magnitude and direction].
 measured in the SI unit newton (N).
We show the force vector using⃗ F . F without an arrow
represents the size of the force vector only.
15 N represents a force ( ⃗
Example: ⃗ F ) of 15 N to the right
UNIT 1
 Gravitational force always acts vertically downwards towards the
centre of the Earth.
 The weight (⃗ W ) of an object is the same as the gravitational force (⃗
Fg ¿
on the object, so ⃗ ⃗
( F g= W ¿
Repulsion: a force between objects that tends to separate them
 The weight of an object is the product of the mass and the gravitational
Attraction: a force between objects that brings them together. acceleration of the Earth.
So ⃗
W =m ⃗g
If a force acts on an object, it can cause a change to the object. Some of the ⃗ ⃗ =m ⃗g
∴ F g= W
possible changes are:
where, ⃗
F g is gravitational force
⃗ is the weight of an object
W
m⃗ g is mass × gravitational acceleration/ acceleration due to gravity.
2. Normal force (⃗ F N ∨N ):
When an object rests on a surface, the surface exerts a force on the object,
CLASSIFICATION OF FORCES.
called a normal force. It is a contact force that acts at right angle (90 ° ),
A force can be classified as either contact force or non- contact force
perpendicular upwards from the surface
Contact forces: objects can exert a force on each other when they are in contact
[touching each other]. These forces only exist when objects are physically interacting normal:
with one another. In physics, normal means perpendicular to. It does not
Non- contact forces: objects can exert a force on each other when they are not in mean ‘ordinary’
contact (i.e. are apart from each other)
In each of the diagrams below,
Examples of Contact and Non- contact forces 2.1 An object on a horizontal surface
Contact Forces Non- contact Forces Force diagram Free – body diagram
 Applied force (⃗ F A)  Gravitational force (⃗ ⃗)
F g∨ W
 Tension force (⃗ F T ∨T⃗ )  Electrostatic force
 Frictional force (⃗
Ff )  Magnetic force
 Normal force (⃗ F N ∨N )  Nuclear forces
 Upthrust
 Compression ⃗
Fg
1. Gravitational force (⃗ ⃗ ):
F g∨ W
 It is the force of attraction that the Earth exerts on an object above its
surface. W

When an object is resting or moving on a horizontal surface

the normal force will have the same magnitude, but an opposite
direction to the weight of the object or gravitational force
UNIT 1
This means that the greater the magnitude of the normal force acting on the
object, the greater the magnitude of the frictional force. Think of grinding
something here. The harder you press, the more “normal” (perpendicular) force
So ⃗
F N =−⃗
Fg and ⃗
F N =−m ⃗g there is. Hence, when you are grinding something, e.g. crushing maize for
making pap, it experiences strong normal (perpendicular) forces and thus strong
2.2 An object on a an inclined plane (surface) frictional forces; hence it is ground up.
Fgrav: weight  If an object is at rest, then there is a static frictional force.
 If the object is moving, then there is kinetic frictional force.
F g ⊥: perpendicular
force
F g ∥: parallel force
Fnorm: normal force

TYPES OF FRICTIONAL FORCES

Static (Limiting) Frictional force Kinetic (Dynamic) Frictional force
 acts between the two surfaces  acts between the two surfaces
when the object is stationary when the object is moving
 is given by: f s=μ s F N  is given by: f k =μk F N
When an object is resting or moving on an inclined plane where: where:
(surface), the normal force will have the same magnitude, but f s=¿ Static friction (in Newton-N) f k =¿ Kinetic friction (in Newton-N)
an opposite direction to the perpendicular component of the μs =¿ coefficient of static friction μk =¿ coefficient of friction
weight of the object or gravitational force. (has no units) (has no units)
So ⃗
F N =−⃗
Fg⊥ F N =¿ Normal force (in Newton-N) F N =¿ Normal force (in Newton-N)

3.1Frictional force (⃗
F f ∨f ): 3.2 The coefficient of friction ( μ) μ is the Greek letter mu
 Frictional force opposes motion. So it works against the movement of The coefficient of friction depends on the material of the two
an object. surfaces that are in contact.
 Frictional force acts in the opposite direction to an object’s motion or Examples
intended motion  Steel on wet ice has a slow coefficient of friction(slides easily)
 The rougher the surface, the more friction there is between the object  Rubber on a tar has a higher coefficient of friction (more grip, less
and the surface sliding)
 The less rough the surface, the less friction there is between the object A. Friction on an object on a horizontal surface
and the surface.  When an object is at rest on a horizontal surface and no force is applied to
it, then there is no static friction.
UNIT 1
 When a small force is applied to an object at rest, then the force of static An applied force is a force that a person or object applies to another object. If a
friction increases as the applied force increases. person is pushing a cart along a ground, then there is an applied force exerted
 As the force increases, the static friction continues to increase. upon the object.
 This continues until the static friction reaches a maximum value (it cannot
increase further) eventually maximum static friction force is exceeded
and the object moves
 The friction then decreases to a smaller value called the kinetic friction (f k )
 The kinetic friction remains constant while the object moves at a constant
speed
 The kinetic friction remains smaller than the maximum static friction

If no force is applied to a stationary object on a horizontal surface, then

there is no static frictional force.[ If F A=0 , then f s=0 ]. The static
frictional force increases with [a small and increasing F A].This variation
continues until maximum static frictional force is exceeded [here f s
cannot increase further]. It[ the static frictional force f s] then decreases to a
smaller value called the kinetic friction (f k ).Thus;
 The kinetic friction remains smaller than the maximum static friction
 The kinetic friction remains constant while the object moves at a
constant speed.

B. Friction on an object on an inclined surface.

When an object moves along a surface inclined at an angleθ , the

normal force is multiplied by the kinetic coefficient of friction to
find the frictional force.
The kinetic coefficient is calculated using cos θ :
⃗
F N =⃗F g ⊥=m ⃗g .cos θ f k =μk ⃗
FN

4. Applied forces:
UNIT 1