force1

noun
1. 1.
strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement.
"he was thrown backwards by the force of the explosion"
synony strength, power, energy, might, potency, vigour, muscle, stamina, effort, exertion, im
ms: pact, pressure, weight, impetus;
informalpunch
"Eddie delivered a blow with all his force"

2. 2.
coercion or compulsion, especially with the use or threat of violence.
"they ruled by law and not by force"
synon coercion, compulsion, constraint, duress, oppression, enforcement, harassment, intimid
yms: ation, threats, pressure, pressurization, influence; More
o
verb
1. 1.
make a way through or into by physical strength; break open by force.
"the back door of the bank was forced"
synonyms break open, force open, burst open, prise open, kick in, knock down, blast;
: crack
"the doors had to be forced"
2. 2.
make (someone) do something against their will.
"she was forced into early retirement"
synony compel, coerce, make, constrain, oblige, impel, drive, necessitate, pressurize, pressur
ms: e, press, push; More

In physics, a force is any interaction that, when unopposed, will change the motion of an object.
[1]
A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (which includes to begin moving
from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate. Force can also be described intuitively as a push or a
pull. A force has both magnitude and direction, making it a vector quantity. It is measured in
the SI unit of newtons and represented by the symbol F.
The original form of Newton's second law states that the net force acting upon an object is equal
to the rate at which its momentum changes with time. If the mass of the object is constant, this
law implies that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on the
object, is in the direction of the net force, and is inversely proportional to the mass of the object
Concepts related to force include: thrust, which increases the velocity of an object; drag, which
decreases the velocity of an object; and torque, which produces changes in rotational speed of
an object. In an extended body, each part usually applies forces on the adjacent parts; the
distribution of such forces through the body is the internal mechanical stress. Such internal
mechanical stresses cause no accelation of that body as the forces balance one
another. Pressure, the distribution of many small forces applied over an area of a body, is a
simple type of stress that if unbalanced can cause the body to accelerate. Stress usually
causes deformation of solid materials, or flow in fluids.
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Force is everywhere and it comes in a variety of sizes, directions, and types. In this video lesson,
you'll identify force as well the different types of force that objects may experience.

What Is Force?
You've probably heard of 'The Force,' but this isn't quite the same as a force. A force is a push
or pull on an object. This push or pull comes from the objects interacting with one another and
only from such interactions. Once the interaction stops, there is no longer any force.
While forces come in pairs, there can be even more forces in an interaction. For example, when
you throw a ball into the air, the ball is experiencing the force of gravity, friction, and the pushing
force from you all at the same time!
Forces are important because, as we learned in another lesson, they are responsible for
changes in motion. In fact, Isaac Newton describes this in his first law. This law of inertia states
that an object continues in its state of rest or motion unless acted on by an outside unbalanced
force. So, your cat sleeping on the couch isn't likely to move unless you apply a force (pushing
on the cat).
Newton wasn't just great at scientific laws; he also got his own unit of measure! The standard
unit of force is the Newton, or N. So, for example, if something is 5 N, this means 5 Newton
force.
But force has both magnitude and direction, which makes it a vector quantity. The magnitude of
the force is how much, and the direction is in which way. So, in order to fully describe the force,
we would need to say the force is 5 N and in which direction (like downward or to the left). As
with any vector quantity, we show forces with arrows. The arrow's length represents the
magnitude, while the arrow's direction shows the direction of the force.
We can put forces into two different categories, contact and non-contact. Let's look at each one
more closely to get a better understanding of them.

Contact Forces
Contact forces are just what they sound like: forces that result from the interaction of two
objects in contact with each other. Forces that belong in this category are friction, air resistance,
normal force, applied force, tension force, and spring force.
Friction is a force that you are quite familiar with already. This force occurs when objects rub
against each other. The burn you feel on your skin when you go down a slide? Friction! Your
brake pads and rotors stopping your car? Friction again! Friction acts in a direction to oppose
motion - when you pull a bag across the floor to the right, the force of friction on the bag is to the
left.
Even objects falling downward through the air experience friction acting upward, this time from
the air. This special type of frictional force is called air resistance. It's the friction that acts on an
object as it moves through the air. Again, this force is in a direction opposite to the direction of
the object's motion.
There's a really important force that keeps us from falling through the floor called the normal
force. This is the upward force that balances the weight of an object (another force that we'll talk
about later) on a surface. If the object is at rest on a horizontal surface, the normal force is the
same as the object's weight. Gravity pulls you down, but the normal force pushes back up on you
from the floor.
An applied force is a force that is applied to an object by another object. If you push a box
across the floor, your force pushing on the box is the applied force. And remember how we said
before that you can have multiple forces acting at once? You better believe that in addition to
your applied force on the box, that box is also experiencing friction from the floor, gravity pulling it
down, and the normal force pushing it up - all at the same time!
Tension force is the tension through a string or other fully-stretched object. If you tie something
to a string and let it hang from your fingers, the tension force is the same for both the object at
the end of the string and your fingers holding that string.

In physics, a force is any interaction that, when unopposed, will change the motion of an
object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (which includes to begin
moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate.

What are the characteristics of a force?

There are three main types of force: An applied force is an interaction of one object
on another that causes the second object to change its velocity. A resistive force
passively resists motion and works in a direction opposite to that motion. An inertial
force resists a change in velocity
What are the forces of motion?
Newton's second law of motion states that a force, acting on an object, will change its
velocity by changing either its speed or its direction or both. If your basketball goes rolling
into the street and is hit by a bike, either the ball will change direction or its speed or both.

What is the friction force?

Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material
elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: Dryfriction is a
force that opposes the relative lateral motion of two solid surfaces in contact.

How do you explain force?

To fully describe the force acting upon an object, you must describe both the magnitude
(size or numerical value) and the direction. Thus, 10 Newton is not a full description of
the force acting upon an object.

What is the formula of force?

This equation is one of the most useful in classical physics. It is a concise statement of
Isaac Newton's Second Law of Motion, holding both the proportions and vectors of the
Second Law. It translates as: The net force on an object is equal to the mass of the object
multiplied by the acceleration of the object.

What is the unit of force in physics?

newton
A newton is the force required to give a mass of 1 kilogram (1 kg) an acceleration of 1 meter
per second per second (1 m/s2). It is abbreviated as N. This unit of measurement is in the
metric or SI system and is used in scientific work more than other units of force. 1 N is
equivalent to 1 kg-m/s2.Oct 1, 2015

What is the definition of net force?

In physics, the Net force is the overall force acting on an object. To calculate net force, the
body is isolated and interactions with the environment or other constraints are represented
as forces and torques in a free-body diagram.
 What are all the forces?
The applied force is the force exerted on the desk by the person. The normal forceis the
support force exerted upon an object that is in contact with another stable object. ... The air
resistance is a special type of frictional force that acts upon objects as they travel through
the air.

How do the forces work?

There are many important examples of forces which do no work because they act
perpendicular to the motion. For circular motion, the centripetal force always acts at right
angles to the motion. It changes the direction of the motion, but it does nowork on the
object. This can be applied to any circular orbit.

How do you calculate the frictional force?

Use the diagram to determine the gravitational force, normal force, frictional force,
net force, and the coefficient of friction between the object and the surface. (Neglect air
resistance.) Fnet can be found using Fnet = m. a = (4 kg)

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Newton's Laws - Lesson 2 - Force and Its Representation

Types of Forces
 The Meaning of Force
 Types of Forces
 Drawing Free-Body Diagrams
 Determining the Net Force
A force is a push or pull acting upon an object as a result of its interaction
with another object. There are a variety of types of forces. Previously in
this lesson, a variety of force types were placed into two broad category
headings on the basis of whether the force resulted from the contact or
non-contact of the two interacting objects.
Contact Forces Action-at-a-Distance Forces
Frictional Force Gravitational Force
Tension Force Electrical Force
Normal Force Magnetic Force
Air Resistance Force
Applied Force
Spring Force

These types of individual forces will now be discussed in more detail. To

read about each force listed above, continue scrolling through this page.
Or to read about an individual force, click on its name from the list below.
 Applied Force
 Gravitational Force
 Normal Force
 Frictional Force
 Air Resistance Force
 Tension Force
 Spring Force

Type of Force
Description of Force
(and Symbol)
An applied force is a force that is applied to an object by a person or another object. If a
person is pushing a desk across the room, then there is an applied force acting upon the
object. The applied force is the force exerted on the desk by the person.
1 Applied Force
Fapp

The force of gravity is the force with which the earth, moon, or other massively large
object attracts another object towards itself. By definition, this is the weight of the object.
2 Gravity Force All objects upon earth experience a force of gravity that is directed "downward" towards
the center of the earth. The force of gravity on earth is always equal to the weight of the
object as found by the equation:
Fgrav = m * g
(also known as
where g = 9.8 N/kg (on Earth)
Weight)
and m = mass (in kg)
Fgrav (Caution: do not confuse weight with mass.)

The normal force is the support force exerted upon an object that is in contact with another
stable object. For example, if a book is resting upon a surface, then the surface is exerting
an upward force upon the book in order to support the weight of the book. On occasions, a
3 Normal Force
normal force is exerted horizontally between two objects that are in contact with each
other. For instance, if a person leans against a wall, the wall pushes horizontally on the
person.
Fnorm

The friction force is the force exerted by a surface as an object moves across it or makes
an effort to move across it. There are at least two types of friction force - sliding and static
friction. Though it is not always the case, the friction force often opposes the motion of an
object. For example, if a book slides across the surface of a desk, then the desk exerts a
4 Friction Force friction force in the opposite direction of its motion. Friction results from the two surfaces
being pressed together closely, causing intermolecular attractive forces between molecules
of different surfaces. As such, friction depends upon the nature of the two surfaces and
upon the degree to which they are pressed together. The maximum amount of friction
force that a surface can exert upon an object can be calculated using the formula below:

Ffrict Ffrict = µ • Fnorm

The friction force is discussed in more detail later on this page.
 The air resistance is a special type of frictional force that acts upon objects as they travel
through the air. The force of air resistance is often observed to oppose the motion of an
5 Air Resistance object. This force will frequently be neglected due to its negligible magnitude (and due to
Force the fact that it is mathematically difficult to predict its value). It is most noticeable for
objects that travel at high speeds (e.g., a skydiver or a downhill skier) or for objects with
large surface areas. Air resistance will be discussed in more detail in Lesson 3.
Fair

The tension force is the force that is transmitted through a string, rope, cable or wire when
6 Tension Force it is pulled tight by forces acting from opposite ends. The tension force is directed along
the length of the wire and pulls equally on the objects on the opposite ends of the wire.

Ftens

The spring force is the force exerted by a compressed or stretched spring upon any object
that is attached to it. An object that compresses or stretches a spring is always acted upon
7 Spring Force by a force that restores the object to its rest or equilibrium position. For most springs
(specifically, for those that are said to obey "Hooke's Law"), the magnitude of the force is
directly proportional to the amount of stretch or compression of the spring.
Fspring

There are different types of forces that act in different ways on structures such as
bridges, chairs, buildings, in fact any structure. The main examples of forces are
shown below. Study the diagram and text and then draw a diagram/pictogram to
represent each of these forces.

Description
This section is from the book "Cyclopedia Of Architecture, Carpentry, And Building", by James
C. et al. Also available from Amazon: Cyclopedia Of Architecture, Carpentry And Building.

III. Concurrent Forces In Equilibrium

15. Condition of Equilibrium Defined. By condition of equilibrium of a system of forces is
meant a relation which they must fulfill in order that they may be in equilibrium or a
relation which they fulfill when they are in equilibrium.
In order that any system may be in equilibrium, or be balanced, their equilibrant, and
hence their resultant, must be zero, and this is a condition of equilibrium. If a system is
known to be in equilibrium, then, since the forces balance among themselves, their
equilibrant and hence their resultant also equals zero. This (the necessity of a zero
resultant) is known as the general condition of equilibrium for it pertains to all kinds of
force systems. For special kinds of systems there are special conditions, some of which
are explained in the following.
16. Graphical Condition of Equilibrium. The "graphical condition of equilibrium" for a
system of concurrent forces is that the polygon for the forces must close. For if the
polygon closes, then the resultant equals zero as was pointed out in Art 11.
By means of this condition we can solve problems relating to concurrent forces which are
known to be in equilibrium. The most common and practically important of these is the
following: The forces of a concurrent system in equilibrium are all known except two, but
the lines of action of these two are known; it is required to determine their magnitudes
and directions. This problem arises again and again in the "analysis of trusses" (Arts. 23
to 26) but will be illustrated first in simpler cases.
Example. 1. Fig. 12 represents a body resting on an inclined plane being prevented from
slipping down by a rope fastened to it as shown. It is required to determine the pull or
tension on the rope and the pressure of the plane if the body weighs 120 pounds and the
surface of the plane is perfectly smooth.*
There are three forces acting upon the body, namely, its weight directly downwards, the
pull of the rope and the reaction or pressure of the plane which, as ex plained in the
footnote, is perpendicular to the plane. We now draw the polygon for these forces
making it close; thus draw AB (1.2 inches long) to represent the magnitude and direction
of the weight, 120 pounds, then from A a line parallel to either one of the other forces,
from B a line parallel to the third, and mark the intersection of these two lines C; then
ABC A is the polygon. Since the arrowhead on AB must point down and since the
arrowheads in any force polygon must point the same way around, those on BC and CA
must point as shown.
Hence BC (0.6 inch, or 60 pounds) represents the magnitude and direction of the pull of
the rope and CA (1.01 inches, or 104

Fig. 12.
* By "a perfectly smooth" surface is meant one which offers no resistance to the sliding
of a body upon it. Strictly, there are no such surfaces, as all real surfaces exert more or
less frictional resistance. But there are surfaces which are practically perfectly smooth.
We use perfectly smooth surfaces in some of our illustrations and examples for the sake
of simplicity, for we thus avoid the force of friction, and the reaction or force exerted by
such a surface on a body resting upon it is perpendicular to the surface.
pounds) represents the magnitude and direction of the pressure of the plane on the
body.
2. A body weighing 200 pounds is suspended from a small ring which is supported by
means of two ropes as shown in Fig. 13. It is required to determine the pulls on the two
ropes.
There are three forces acting on the ring, namely the downward force equal to the weight
of the body and the pulls of the two ropes. Since the ring is at rest, the three forces
balance or are in equilibrium, and hence their force polygon must close. We proceed to
draw the polygon and in making it close, we shall determine the values of the unknown
pulls. Thus, first draw AB (1 inch long) to represent the magnitude and direction of the
known force, 200 pounds; the arrowhead on it must point down. Then from A a line
parallel to one of the ropes and from B a line parallel to the other and mark their
intersection C. ABCA is the polygon for the three forces, and since in any force polygon
the arrows point the same way around, we place arrowheads on BC and CA as shown.
Then BC and CA represent the magnitudes and directions of the pulls exerted on the ring
by the right- and left-hand ropes respectively.
Fig. 13.

Fig. 14.

BC = 0.895 inches and represents 179 pounds.

CA = 0.725 inches and represents 145 pounds.

The directions of the pulls are evident in this case and the arrowheads are superfluous,
but they are mentioned to show how to place them and what they mean so that they
may be used when neessary. To complete the notation, the rope at the right should be
marked bc and the other ca.
Examples For Practice
1. Fig. 14 represents a body weighing 800 pounds suspended from a ring which is
supported by two ropes as shown. Compute the pulls on the ropes.

Ans. Pull in the horizontal rope = 400 pounds.

Pull in the inclined rope = 894 pounds.

2. Suppose that in Fig. 12 the rope supporting the body on the plane is so fastened that it
is horizontal. Determine the pull on the rope and the pressure on the plane if the
inclination of the plane to the horizontal is 30 degrees and the body weighs 120 pounds.

Ans. Pull = 68.7 pounds.

Pressure = 138 pounds.

3. A sphere weighing 400 pounds rests in a V-shaped trough, the sides of which are
inclined at 60 degrees with the horizontal. Compute the pressures on the sphere.
Ans. 400 pounds.
17. Algebraic Conditions of Equilibrium. Imagine each one of the forces of a concurrent
system in equilibrium replaced by its components along two lines at right angles to each
other, horizontal and vertical for example, through the point of concurrence. Evidently
the system of components would also be in equilibrium. Now since the components act
along one of two lines (horizontal or vertical), all the components along each line must
balance among themselves for if either set of components were not balanced, the body
would be moved along that line. Hence we state that the conditions of equilibrium of a
system of concurrent forces are that the resultants of the two sets of components of the
forces along any two lines at right angles to each other must equal zero.

Continue to:

 prev: II. Concurrent Forces; Composition And Resolution. Part 3

 Table of Contents

 next: III. Concurrent Forces In Equilibrium. Continued

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