Topic 1.5.

1 Forces
Dr Anees Ahmad Bangash
1.5 Forces
1.5.1 Balanced and unbalanced forces
1. Identify and use different types of force, including weight (gravitational force), friction, drag, air resistance,
tension (elastic force), electrostatic force, magnetic force, thrust (driving force) and contact force
2. Identify forces acting on an object and draw free-body diagram(s) representing the forces
3. State Newton’s first law as ‘an object either remains at rest or continues to move in a straight line at
constant speed unless acted on by a resultant force’
4 State that a force may change the velocity of an object by changing its direction of motion or its speed
5 Determine the resultant of two or more forces acting along the same straight line
6 Recall and use the equation
resultant force = mass × acceleration
F = ma
7 State Newton’s third law as ‘when object A exerts a force on object B, then object B exerts an equal and
opposite force on object A’
8 Know that Newton’s third law describes pairs of forces of the same type acting on different objects
• A force is a push or a pull. There are different types of forces.
• A force can cause an object at rest to move, or if the body is already moving it can change its speed or
direction of motion.
• A force can also change a body’s shape or size. For example, a spring (or wire) will stretch when loaded
with a weight.

Types of force:
Forces are divided into two types.
1. Non contact forces.
2. Contact forces.

• weight is a gravitational force

• there are magnetic forces between magnets
• electrostatic forces between charges
These forces do not require contact between objects.
• Contact forces occur between objects that are touching each other. These include drag and air resistance
which are resistive forces caused by the motion of an object through a fluid such as a liquid or air. They act
against the direction of motion of the object to slow it down as does friction, which occurs between two solid
surfaces in relative motion.
• Other contact forces are the force experienced by an object at rest on a surface and the tension that
occurs in a string or spring being stretched (elastic force).
• Thrust is a sudden force (driving force) in a particular direction.
The forces on an object can be represented in a free-body diagram .
Forces and resultants:
• Force has both magnitude (size) and direction. It is represented in free-body diagrams by a straight line
with an arrow to show its direction of action.
• Usually more than one force acts on an object. As a simple example, an object resting on a table
is pulled downwards by its weight W and pushed upwards by a contact force R due to the table supporting it
Figure . Since the object is at rest, there is no resultant force. We say the forces are balanced, i.e. R = W.
• If the forces act in the same straight line, the resultant is found by simple addition or subtraction as shown
in Figure. If the forces act in different directions, the vectors are added by taking account of their direction.

• If the resultant of two or more forces is not zero, the forces are unbalanced.
Test yourself
Q 1 Jo, Daniel and Helen are pulling a metal ring. Jo pulls with a force of 100 N in one direction and Daniel
with a force of 140 N in the opposite direction. If the ring does not move, what force does Helen exert if she
pulls in the same direction as Jo?
Q 2 A boy drags a suitcase along the ground with a force of 100 N. If the frictional force opposing the motion
of the suitcase is 50 N, what is the resultant forward force on the suitcase?
8 A picture is supported by two vertical strings. If the weight of the picture is 50 N, what is the force exerted
by each string?
9 Using a scale of 1 cm to represent 10 N, find the size and direction of the resultant of forces of 30 N and 40
N acting at right angles to each other.
Newton’s first law
• Friction and air resistance cause a car to come to rest when the engine is switched off. If these forces were
absent, we believe that an object, once set in motion, would go on moving forever with a constant speed in a
straight line. That is, force is not needed to keep a body moving with uniform velocity provided that no
opposing forces act on it.
Newton’s first law of motion:
• An object stays at rest, or continues to move in a straight line at constant speed, unless acted on by a
resultant force.
• It seems that the question we should ask about a moving body is not what keeps it moving but what changes
or stops its motion.
• The smaller the external forces opposing a moving body, the smaller is the force needed to keep it moving with
constant velocity. A hover scooter, which is supported by a cushion of air Figure, can skim across the ground
with little frictional opposition, so that relatively little power is needed to maintain motion. A resultant force may
change the velocity of an object by changing its direction of motion or speed.
Mass and inertia
• Newton’s first law is another way of saying that all matter has a built-in opposition to being moved if it is at
rest or, if it is moving, to having its motion changed. This property of matter is called inertia (from the Latin
word for laziness),
• Its effect is evident on the occupants of a car that stops suddenly: they lurch forwards in an attempt to
continue moving, and this is why seat belts are needed.
• The reluctance of a stationary object to move can be shown by placing a large coin on a piece of card on
your finger.If the card is flicked sharply the coin stays where it is while the card flies off.
• The larger the mass of a body, the greater is its inertia, i.e. the more difficult it is to move it when at rest
and to stop it when in motion. Because of this we consider that the mass of a body measures its inertia.
Newton’s second law
• the acceleration a is directly proportional to the applied force F for a fixed mass, i.e. a ∝ F, and inversely
proportional to the mass m for a fixed force, i.e. a ∝1/m.
Combining the results into one equation, we get
a ∝F/m
F ∝ ma
Therefore
F kma
where k is the constant of proportionality.
• One newton is defined as the force which gives a mass of 1 kg an acceleration of 1 m/s 2 ,
• i.e. 1 N 1 kg m/s2, so if m 1 kg and a 1 m/s2,
Then F 1 N.
Substituting in F kma, we get k 1 and so we can write
F ma
or
resultant force mass acceleration
• This is Newton’s second law of motion. When using it, two points should be noted. First, F is the resultant
(or unbalanced) force causing the acceleration a in the same direction as F. Second, F must be in newtons,
m in kilograms and a in metres per second squared, otherwise k is not 1. The law shows that a will be largest
when F is large and m small.
• when the forces acting on a body do not balance there is a net (resultant) force which causes a change of
motion, i.e. the body accelerates or decelerates. The force and the acceleration are in the same direction. If the
forces balance, there is no change in the motion of the body. However, there may be a change of shape, in which
case internal forces in the body (i.e. forces between neighbouring atoms) balance the external forces.
Q 1 Which one of the diagrams in Figure the arrangement
of forces that gives the block of mass M the greatest
acceleration?

Q 2 In Figure P is a force of 20 N and the object

moves with constant velocity, what is the value of the
opposing force F?

Q 3 a What resultant force produces an acceleration of 5 m/s2 in a car of mass 1000 kg?
b What acceleration is produced in a mass of 2 kg by a resultant force of 30 N?
Newton’s third law
• If a body A exerts a force on body B, then body B exerts an equal but opposite force on body A.
• This is Newton’s third law of motion and states that forces never occur singly but always in pairs as a result of
the action between two bodies. For example, when you step forwards from rest your foot pushes backwards on the
Earth, and the Earth exerts an equal and opposite force forward on you.
• Two bodies and two forces are involved. The small force you exert on the large mass of the Earth gives no
noticeable acceleration to the Earth but the equal force it exerts on your very much smaller mass causes you to
accelerate.
• the pair of equal and opposite forces do not act on the same body; if they did, there could never be any resultant
forces and acceleration would be impossible. For a book resting on a table, the book exerts a downward force on
the table and the table exerts an equal and opposite upward force on the book; this pair of forces act on different
objects and are represented by the red arrows in Figure. The weight of the book (blue arrow) does not form a pair
with the upward force on the book although they are equal numerically as these two forces act on the same body.
• when stepping from a rowing boat. You push backwards
on the boat and, although the boat pushes you forwards
with an equal force, it is itself now moving backwards
(because friction with the water is slight). This reduces
your forwards motion by the same amount – so you
may fall in!