LESSON 1

Forces and Motion

Position and Motion

Key Concept
• How can you describe
What do you think? Read the two statements below and decide the position and motion
whether you agree or disagree with them. Place an A in the Before of a train outside the
column if you agree with the statement or a D if you disagree. After window?
you’ve read this lesson, reread the statements to see if you have
changed your mind.
Before Statement After
Displacement is the distance an object moves
along a path.
The description of an object’s position depends
on the reference point.

Mark the Text

Where are you right now? Create an Outline As you

read, make an outline to
How would you describe where you are right now? You might summarize the information
say that you are sitting one meter to the left of your friend. You in the lesson. Use the main
might explain that you are at home, which is two houses north headings in your outline.
Use your outline to review
of your school. the lesson.
Describing Position What do these descriptions have in
common? Each states your location relative to a certain point.
This point is called the reference point. A reference point is the
starting point you choose to describe the location, or position, of
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an object. The reference point in the first example is your

friend. In the second example, it is your school. Each description
of your location also includes your distance and direction from Academic Vocabulary
the reference point. Describing your location in this way defines specify
your position. In the first example, the distance is one meter. (verb) to indicate or
The direction is to the left, and the reference point is your identify
friend. In the second example, the distance is two houses. The
direction is north, and the reference point is your school. A
position is an object’s distance in a certain direction from a
reference point. A complete description of your position
includes a distance, a direction, and a reference point.

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 Scientific Vocabulary The Reference Direction Sometimes direction is described
reference direction using the words positive or negative. The reference direction is
(noun) a direction that the positive (+) direction. The opposite direction is the negative (-)
you choose from a starting
direction. Suppose east is the reference direction in the diagram
point to describe an
object’s position below. The museum’s entrance is 80 m east of a bus stop. The
library is 40 m west of the bus stop. You could say that the
museum is +80 m from the bus stop and the library is -40 m from
the bus stop. Using the words positive or negative to describe
direction can help explain changes in an object’s position.

East

Library Bus stop 20 m Museum

Scientific Vocabulary Moving in Two Dimensions Sometimes you need to use more
dimension than one reference direction to describe an object’s position.
(noun) a measurement of When you describe position using two directions, you are using
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something, such as height two dimensions.
or width
Describing Position in Two Dimensions To describe a
position on a map, you might choose north and east or south
and west as the reference directions. Sometimes north, south,
Academic Vocabulary east, and west are not the most useful reference directions.
imagine Imagine that you are looking at a skyscraper. You might describe
(verb) to form ideas in a certain window as “up” and “to the left.”
your mind
Suppose you want to locate your classmate’s home on a map.

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To find a position in two dimensions, first choose a reference
point. You could choose your home as a reference point. Next,
give specific reference directions. For example, south and east.
Then, determine the distance along each reference direction. For
example, your classmate’s home might be one block south and
four blocks east of your home.

What is motion?
Sometimes you need to describe how an object’s position
changes. Suppose a boat is floating on a lake.

Motion How do you know whether the boat has moved

throughout the day? You know this when its position changes
relative to, or compared to, something else. Motion is the
process of changing position.
2 Forces and Motion Reading Essentials
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 Observing Motion Is the man in the figure below in motion?
Use the fishing pole as the reference point. The positions of the Scientific Vocabulary
man and the pole do not change relative to each other. The man relative
does not move relative to the pole. When the buoy is the (adjective) compared to
reference point, the man’s distance from the buoy changes. The something or someone
else
man is in motion relative to the buoy.

Motion Using Reference Points How would you describe the

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position of the soccer player in the figure? If the reference point is
the goal, or point A, the player’s position is 10 m in front of the
goal. If the reference point is center field, point B, the position is
40 m toward the goal. The actual location of the player does not
change. The description of the position changed because the
reference point changed.
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C 10 m
41.2 m
B
A 40 m
10 m D

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 Distance and Displacement Suppose a baseball player runs
the bases. Distance is the length of the path the player runs.
Suppose he runs 25 m to get to first base. When he gets to
second base, he has run 25 m + 25 m = 50 m. Displacement is
the difference between the initial (first) position and the final
position of an object. The initial position is home plate. At first
base, the player’s distance and displacement are the same. He
has run a distance of 25 m and he is 25 m from home plate,
where he started. At second base, distance and displacement are
different. The player has run a distance of 50 m, but his
displacement is 35 m from home plate. Once the player has runs
all the bases and is back at home plate, he has run 100 m
(25 m × 4), but his displacement is 0 m. His starting position
and ending position are the same—home plate. Distance
depends on the path taken. Only the starting and ending
positions matter in displacement. Notice that distance and
displacement are equal only if the motion is in one direction.

What do you measure to determine

motion?
How fast do you walk when you are hungry and you smell
good food in the kitchen? How fast do you move when you have
a difficult chore to do? Sometimes you move quickly. Other
times you might move slowly.

Changes Over Time One way you can describe how fast you
move is to determine your speed. Speed is the measure of the
distance an object travels per unit of time.

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 Constant and Changing Speed Speed is either constant or
changing. Look at the figure at below. The stopwatches show the
girl’s motion every second for 6 seconds. In the first 4 seconds,
she travels the same distance during each second. This means
that she was moving with constant, or unchanging, speed.
When the girl starts running, the distance she travels each
second gets larger and larger. The girl’s speed changes.

Average Speed Suppose you want to know how fast you

traveled from the park to the library. As you moved, your speed
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changed from second to second. Therefore, in order to describe
your speed, you describe the average speed of the entire trip.
Average speed is a ratio. It is the distance an object moves
divided by the time it takes for the object to move that distance.
If you traveled the 1-km distance to the library in 15 min, or
0.25 h, your average speed was 1 km/0.25 h, or 4 km/h.
Speed and Direction When you describe your motion to a
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friend, you might say how fast you are traveling. You are
describing your speed. You could give your friend a better
description of your motion if you also state the direction in
which you are moving. Velocity is the speed and direction of an
object’s motion. Velocity is a vector. A vector is a quantity that
has magnitude and direction. Arrows often represent vectors.
The length of the arrow represents the speed of an object. The
arrow points in the direction in which the object is moving.

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 Constant and Changing Velocity Velocity is constant, or
does not change, when an object’s speed and direction of
Scientific Vocabulary movement do not change. Look at arrows in the left box in the
segment figure below. Each segment of the arrow shows the distance and
(noun) a part of the direction the cyclists move in a given unit of time. Each
something segment is the same length. This means the cyclists are moving
the same distance and in the same direction during each unit of
time. Both speed and direction of movement are constant, so the
cyclists are moving at a constant velocity. The arrows in the
middle box get larger each second. The speed is changing, so
the velocity is also changing. Velocity can change even if the
speed of an object remains constant. Recall that velocity
includes an object’s speed and the direction it is traveling.

Constant Velocity Changing Velocity

Changing Speed Changing Direction

0s 1s 2s 3s 4s 0s 1s 2s 3s 4s

How can a graph help you understand

an object’s motion?
RE_P360_121A_NGMSS-BANK In the study of motion, the two measurements that are
compared are time and distance.

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Distance-Time Graphs Graphs that show comparisons
between time and distance are called distance-time graphs. The
change in distance is the same each second on the graph below,
which represents an object moving at constant speed. Constant
speed is shown as a straight line on distance-time graphs.
Distance-Time
Graph
60
50
Distance (m)

40
30
20
10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (s)

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 Reread the statements at the beginning of the lesson. Fill in
the After column with an A if you agree with the statement or a
D if you disagree. Did you change your mind?
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 LESSON 2

Forces and Motion

Force and Acceleration

Key Concept
• What happens to the
motion of a water tube What do you think? Read the two statements below and decide
when it’s pushed or whether you agree or disagree with them. Place an A in the Before
pulled? column if you agree with the statement or a D if you disagree. After
you’ve read this lesson, reread the statements to see if you have
changed your mind.
Before Statement After
You can calculate average acceleration by
dividing the change in velocity by the change in
distance.
An object accelerates when either its speed or
its direction changes.

Mark the Text

Identify the Main Ideas

Highlight the main idea in
What can cause a change of motion?
Recall that velocity changes if either speed or direction
each paragraph. Underline
the details that support the changes. When a car moves faster, its velocity increases. When a
main idea. car slows down, its velocity decreases. If the car turns, its
velocity changes because its direction changes.

Changes in Motion When the car’s velocity changes, the car is

accelerating. Acceleration Is a measure of the change in velocity
during a period of time. An object accelerates when its velocity

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changes as a result of increasing speed, decreasing speed, or a
change in direction. Like velocity, acceleration has a direction.
Acceleration can be represented by an arrow. The length of the
arrow shows the amount of acceleration. The direction of an
acceleration arrow depends on whether velocity is increasing or
decreasing.

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 Forces Think about all the things you pushed or pulled today.
You might have pushed toothpaste out of a tube. Maybe you
pulled out a chair to sit down. A push or a pull on an object is
called a force. An object or a person can apply a force to
another object or person. Some forces are applied only when
objects touch. Other forces are applied even when objects do not
touch. You have probably seen a musician strike the keys of a
piano or an athlete hit a ball with a bat. The person or object
applies a force to an object that it touches. A contact force is a
push or a pull on one object by another that is touching it.
Contact forces can be weak. When you press the keys on a Academic Vocabulary
computer keyboard, the contact force is weak. They can also be weak
strong. The plates, or rock slabs, that make up Earth’s crust can (adjective) having little
apply strong contact forces against each other. Over long power or force
periods of time, these forces can be strong enough to form
mountain ranges if one plate pushes another plate upward. Scientific Vocabulary
crust
Mathematical Model Newton’s second law of motion (noun) a hard covering on
describes the relationship between an object’s acceleration and something's surface
the net force that acts on the object. According to Newton’s
second law of motion, the acceleration of an object is equal to Scientific Vocabulary
the net force acting on the object divided by the object’s mass. range
The direction of acceleration is the same as the direction of the (noun) a group of
net force. mountains or hills in
a line
Newton’s Second Law Equation
net force (in N)
acceleration (in m/s2) =
mass (in kg)
F
a=
m
SI units are included in the equation. Acceleration is expressed
in meters per second squared (m/s2 ), mass in kilograms (kg),
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and force in newtons (N). A newton is the same as kg•m/s2.

How does friction affect motion?

Why does a baseball player slow down as he slides into a base?
Friction is a contact force that resists the sliding motion between
two objects that are touching.
Friction The force of friction acts in the opposite direction of the
motion. Friction is a force that resists the sliding motion of two
surfaces that are touching. As he slides to the base, the player
must overcome friction from the ground, which is exerting a force
away from the base. Rougher surfaces produce greater friction
than smooth surfaces. Other factors, such as the surface area and
the weight of an object, also affect the force of friction.

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 Friction and Newton’s Laws Imagine a book sitting on a
table. When you push the book, the book moves. This is because
the force you apply to the book is greater than the friction
between the book and the table. The book moves in the
direction of the greater force. If you stop pushing, friction stops
the book, just like the friction between tires and the road stops a
car. What would happen if there were no friction between the
book and the table? According to Newton’s second law, the
book would continue to move at the same speed in the same
direction unless a force changed its motion. The book stopping
is evidence that friction is acting on the book.

How do multiple forces change

motion?
Force has both size and direction. Arrows can be used to
show the size and direction of a force. Usually more than one
force is acting on an object at a time. The forces can be added
together to find the net force. The net force is the sum of all the
Scientific Vocabulary forces acting on an object. The net force can be modeled with a
diagram free-body diagram. A free-body diagram is a simple model that
(noun) a drawing that can help you understand the forces acting on an object.
shows the parts of
something
How can forces act on an object that
is not changing its motion?
Newton’s First Law Sir Isaac Newton studied how forces
affect the motion of objects. He developed three rules that are
known as Newton’s laws of motion. Newton’s first law of
Academic Vocabulary motion states that if the net force on an object is zero, the
results motion of the object does not change. As a result, balanced
(noun) information or forces and unbalanced forces have different results when they

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answers produced by act on an object.
examining something
carefully and scientifically Balanced and Unbalanced Forces According to Newton’s
first law of motion, balanced forces cause no change in the
motion of an object. This is true when an object is at rest or in
motion. A dresser is at rest before anyone pushes on it. It
Scientific Vocabulary remains at rest when balanced forces are applied. Both gravity
air resistance and air resistance act on the motion of a parachutist. Gravity
(noun) how air slows pulls the parachutist toward the ground. Air resistance against
down a moving object the parachute slows the fall. When the air resistance and gravity
on the parachutist are balanced, the parachutist moves
downward with a constant velocity known as terminal velocity.
Recall that velocity is the speed and the direction of motion.
Terminal velocity is the constant velocity reached when air
resistance equals the force of gravity on a falling object.

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 Reread the statements at the beginning of the lesson. Fill in
the After column with an A if you agree with the statement or a
D if you disagree. Did you change your mind?
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 LESSON 3

Forces and Motion

Force Pairs
Key Concept
• How does the air push an
airboat forward? What do you think? Read the two statements below and decide
whether you agree or disagree with them. Place an A in the Before
column if you agree with the statement or a D if you disagree. After
you’ve read this lesson, reread the statements to see if you have
changed your mind.
Before Statement After
When you push on a wall, the wall pushes
on you.
In a collision, the smaller object experiences a
Mark the Text larger force than the bigger object.
Write and Answer
Questions On a sheet of
paper, write each main head
as a question. Then answer
each question using the text
What forces are present when you
under each head. Use your push an object?
questions and answers to If you are wearing skates and push against a wall, you will
review the lesson. move away from the wall. What force causes you to move?
Scientific Vocabulary
Opposing Forces You might think that the force of your
opposing
muscles moves you away from the wall. Think about the
(adjective) completely
different in direction or direction of your push. Your push is against the wall in the
position opposite direction from your movement. In fact, when you push

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against the wall, the wall pushes back in the opposite direction.
Academic Vocabulary The push of the wall causes you to accelerate away from the
in fact wall. When an object applies a force on another object, the
(phrase) used to say what second object applies a force of the same strength on the first
is true or to emphasize the object, but the force is in the opposite direction.
truth
Newton’s first two laws of motion describe the effects of
balanced and unbalanced forces on one object. Newton’s third
Academic Vocabulary
law relates forces between two objects. According to Newton’s
according to
(preposition) as someone third law of motion, when one object exerts a force on a second
says or something shows object, the second object exerts a force of the same size but in
the opposite direction on the first object. An example of forces
described in Newton’s third law of motion is a gymnast pushing
against the floor during a flip. When the gymnast applies force
against the floor, the floor applies force back.

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 How can you model Newton’s third law?
The forces described by Newton’s third law depend on each
other.
Force Pairs A force pair is the forces two objects apply to each
other. You can add forces to calculate the net force. If the forces of a
force pair always act in opposite directions and are always the same
strength, why don’t they cancel each other? The reason is that each
force acts on a different object. Adding forces results in a net force
of zero only if the forces act on the same object.
Normal Force The force that pushes back is sometimes called the Scientific Vocabulary
normal force. The normal force pushes perpendicular to the perpendicular
object’s surface. Think about what happens when you push a wall. (adjective) forming a
The wall has a normal force that pushes straight out from the 90-degree angle
wall. The force pair is balanced in this case. Now think of a tennis
ball hitting a tennis racket. The racket applies a normal force that is Scientific Vocabulary
perpendicular to the racket. A tennis player will turn her racket racket
(noun) a piece of sports
when she wants to turn the ball left or right. The racket then applies
equipment that is used to
a normal force in the direction the player wants the ball to go. hit a ball

What happens during a collision?

In a game of billiards, when the moving cue ball hits a ball Scientific Vocabulary
that is not moving, the motion of both balls changes. When the inelastic
cue ball hits the other ball, the cue ball’s velocity decreases and (adjective) not able to
stretch or bend easily
the other ball starts moving.
Collision Forces When one object collides with another object,
a force is applied to the second object. The second object
accelerates in the direction of the force. However, because of
Newton’s third law a force is also applied to the first object.
Before
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Elastic

Inelastic

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 Types of Collisions When colliding objects bounce off each
other, an elastic collision occurs, as shown in the figure. If
objects collide and stick together, the collision is inelastic.

Reread the statements at the beginning of the lesson. Fill in

the After column with an A if you agree with the statement or a
D if you disagree. Did you change your mind?

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14 Forces and Motion Reading Essentials

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 LESSON 4

Forces and Motion

Gravitational Force
Key Concept
• What pulls a skydiver to
What do you think? Read the two statements below and decide the ground?
whether you agree or disagree with them. Place an A in the Before
column if you agree with the statement or a D if you disagree. After
you’ve read this lesson, reread the statements to see if you have
changed your mind.
Before Statement After
You pull on objects around you with the force of
gravity.
You must touch an object to exert a force on it.

Mark the Text

How can you change an object’s Building Vocabulary As

you read this lesson,
motion without touching it? underline each key term.
Then highlight information
Noncontact Forces When you drop an object, it falls toward
about each term to help
the floor. This downward force occurs even though nothing is you review the lesson later.
touching the object. A force that one object can apply to another
object without touching it is a noncontact force. Gravity, which
pulls on objects, is a noncontact force. The magnetic force,
which attracts certain metals to magnets, is also a noncontact
force. The electric force is another noncontact force.
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What pulls things down?

Gravitational Force Objects fall to the ground because Earth
exerts an attractive force on them. You also exert an attractive
force on objects. Gravity is an attractive force that exists
between all objects that have mass. Mass is the amount of
matter in an object. Mass is often measured in kilograms (kg).
An object does not have to be touching Earth for gravity to act
on it. The force of gravity is exerted through space as a field.
A field is a region of space that has a physical quantity (such as
a force) at every point. The gravitational field of Earth surrounds
Earth at all points. Smaller objects are surrounded by smaller
gravitational fields.

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 What factors affect the strength of a
gravitational force?
Gravitational Force and Mass When the mass of one or both
objects increases, the gravitational force between them also
increases. Each object exerts the same attraction on the other
object.

Gravitational Force and Distance The attraction between

objects decreases as the distance between the objects increases.
For example, if your mass is 45 kg, the gravitational force
between you and Earth is about 440 N. On the Moon, about
384,000 km away, the gravitational force between you and Earth
would only be about 0.12 N.
Scientific Vocabulary Everything in our solar system is held in orbit by the
orbit gravitational force created by the Sun. Earth travels around the
(noun) the path an object Sun due to the gravitational force between the Sun and Earth. If
travels around another
this force disappeared, Earth would break away from its orbit
object
and continue traveling in a straight line into space.

Sun

The planet would move The gravitational pull of the

in a straight line without Sun always is toward the Sun.
the Sun’s gravitational pull.

Planet
Elliptical orbit

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measured?
Earth has more mass than any object near you. As a result,
the gravitational force that Earth exerts on you is greater than
the force exerted by any other object.

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 Gravitational Acceleration Newton’s second law of motion Scientific Vocabulary
states that the force on an object can be found by multiplying multiply
mass by acceleration. You can find the gravitational acceleration (verb) to add a number
by dividing the force of gravity on objects by the mass of the to itself a specific number
of times, for example
objects. When the only force acting on a falling object is gravity,
4 × 4 = 16
all objects fall with the same acceleration. Near Earth’s surface,
the acceleration is 9.8 m/s2. It is called gravitational acceleration
(g).
Weight Because weight is a force, it is measured in newtons.
Weight is the gravitational force exerted on an object. Near
Earth’s surface, an object’s weight is the gravitational force
exerted on the object by Earth.
Normal Force Newton’s third law of motion states that for
every force there is an opposite equal force. A pencil sitting on
a table is acted on by gravity. This force in the downward
direction is equal to its weight. Because of gravity, the pencil is
pushing down on the table. The table pushes up on the pencil
with an equal but opposite force. The force of the table on the
pencil is called the normal force.

Why are small objects not attracted to

each other?
Think about what would happen if you dropped a pencil and
a book you were holding at the same time. Both the book and
the pencil have mass so each has its own gravitational field.
Why wouldn’t the pencil and the book attract each other? Why
would both fall to the ground instead?

Gravity of Small Objects All objects have mass. Therefore, all

objects have a gravitational field. The masses of the pencil and Academic Vocabulary
the book are extremely small compared to the mass of Earth. extremely
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That means their gravitational fields are also very small (adverb) very; a lot
compared to Earth’s gravitational field. The pencil and the book
pull on each other slightly but not enough to cause a change in Academic Vocabulary
motion. slightly
(adverb) a little

Reread the statements at the beginning of the lesson. Fill in

the After column with an A if you agree with the statement or a
D if you disagree. Did you change your mind?

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